


Community Service

by WritingCrow



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 47,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24550255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingCrow/pseuds/WritingCrow
Summary: After the events of the series finale Hordak and Entrapta are in Brightmoon, awaiting judgement for their many crimes.Never one to let that get her down, Entrapta asks Hordak out on a long overdue First Date.
Relationships: Entrapta & Hordak (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 268
Kudos: 383
Collections: Beast Island Saga





	1. First Date

The dust had begun to settle after the final battle and most of Etheria was still celebrating.

For Hordak however the situation was rather tense. He was currently staying in Brightmoon, and while he had a degree of autonomy the guards that followed him from a respectable distance reminded him that he was not trusted.

There would be consequences, he understood that.  
He had caused so much damage to Etheria and its people and that would not be quickly forgotten.

But for now it seemed that no one wanted to ruin the celebrations with a trial.

Entrapta however, had no concerns about the situation, just her usual, irrepressibly energetic self.

She was so unconcerned in fact that she had decided to ask Hordak out on a ‘Date’.

Etherians had a truly staggering number of terms for different kinds of relationships.

There were friends, best-friends, comrades, co-workers, boyfriend and girlfriend which could be both romantic and platonic, two confusing terms which seemed to be mostly based around the desire to reproduce.  
Even the term ‘partners’ had a number of different connotations.

Hordak had no real understanding of these distinctions. Until he met Entrapta he had not forged any kind of connection with those around him, seeing them as disposable, interchangeable drones. Much as he came to realise Horde Prime had seen him and his fellow clones.

He knew that his relationship with Entrapta was something far deeper than just two people working together for a common goal.

Deep enough to pierce Horde Prime’s programming and make him cast aside the only thing he had thought he ever wanted.

Deep enough to make him feel things he had never been intended to feel.

As far as Hordak understood this ‘Date’ was a ritual intended to mark the progression of a relationship from ‘friends’ to ‘boyfriend/girlfriend’ with romantic connotations.

This raised some concerns for Hordak and made him wish that he had studied Etherian biology more closely.

He had of course done plenty of study into how to more efficiently kill Etherians. But he had paid little attention to their reproductive processes.

As he did not have access to the archive he had built up in the Fright Zone he decided to seek advice from one of the few people he hoped would still be willing to talk to him.

Hordak found Scorpia in the palace gardens with the Plant Princess, trimming some bushes with her claws.

“Scorpia!” Hordak boomed, unintentionally switching to his ‘command voice’.

“Lord Hordak!” Scorpia jumped in surprise, snapping a quick support.

The Plant Princess glared at Hordak, moving between him and Scorpia.

Hordak cleared his throat, taking a step back and lowering his voice. “Just Hordak will do now, I am no longer your commanding officer after all.”

The Plant Princess didn’t seem to be satisfied with this. Hordak made a mental note to learn her name, he remembered destroying most of her Kingdom at one point and an ‘apology’ was probably in order.

Scorpia however relaxed immediately, giving Hordak a big smile. “Of course, sorry, old habits. What can I do for you L-Lordak?”

“I have come to seek your advice on a personal matter.”

Scorpia placed a claw on the Plant Princesses shoulder, which seemed to reassure her that Hordak was not an immediate threat.

“You’re asking me?” Scorpia seemed confused but still happy. “Well, sure, I’d love to help!”

Hordak nodded, taking a deep breath. “Entrapta has asked me out on a ‘Date’, does this mean she wishes to produce a child?”

“Oh boy…” Scorpia laughed nervously, looking at the Plant Princess who was pulling a rather nauseous face. “That… Ahhh… Perfuma?”

Perfuma, that was her name.

Hordak stood patiently as Perfuma pulled Scorpia aside and engaged in a brief flurry of whispers, Scorpia making various pleading motions before Perfuma let out a loud sigh and turned to Hordak.

“Okay, Hordak.” Perfuma took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a few seconds. “Usually, having a child is not something that comes up on the first date. That's something that is best discussed after you’ve been together for a long time and are ready to make that kind of commitment.”

“I see.” Hordak nodded. “That is reassuring… Will intercourse be required?”

Perfuma made a strange choking noise, covering her face with her hands.  
Scorpia just continued smiling, though she did seem rather uncomfortable.

“And if so, how long should-”

“Nope!” Perfuma said loudly, her voice cracking slightly “No, no, that is…” she took another, very deep breath, holding her hands in an odd position and making a humming noise for a few seconds.

“That is something that you should discuss with your partner,” she said eventually, sounding slightly more calm, “and no one else. Especially me.”

“I think it's really… sweet, that you want to prepare for this.” Scorpia said, putting an arm around Perfuma. “But you just need to relax, be yourself and have fun!”

Hordak wasn’t sure if he could do all of those things at the same time.

“Well, I appreciate your advice,” Hordak nodded curtly. “And, Princess Perfuma, I am…sorry for attacking your kingdom.”

“You also killed my parents,” Perfuma replied with forced cheer.

“Ah…” Hordak had forgotten about that. “Yes, that is also regrettable.”

“ALRIGHT!” Scorpia said loudly, quickly leading Perfuma away. “Great talk, great talk, but we need to… Water some flowers.”

“Yes, of course.” Hordak tried his best to smile. He supposed that interaction could have gone worse. They had answered his most pressing questions. And he didn’t think he could really be blamed for forgetting about Perfuma’s parents.

He had, after all, killed a lot of people’s parents.

Hordak put on his best cape and most flattering tabard. Carefully preening his crest to look healthy and slightly tousled and putting on some light makeup to match the red and blacks of his outfit.

Entrapta had made him a new exoskeleton since they had returned to Brightmoon, it was sleeker than the last set, looking less like a suit of armor and more like a tight fitting bodysuit.  
Designed more for comfort than combat.

It was slightly weaker than his old set, but more flexible and supportive enough to relieve his pain almost completely.

Entrapta had also designed it with various customisable plates and sections he could alter to make it fit with any outfit.

He hadn’t realised how much he had enjoyed personalising his appearance until he had returned to Horde Prime.  
It had been something that he had just slipped into over his time on Etheria, just another heretical little habit.

He had briefly tried to lie to himself that it was just a convenient way for Entrapta to tell him apart from all the other Clones now residing on Etheria.  
But he had to admit that he just enjoyed it. It made him feel special, unique.

Both things that Entrapta also made him feel.

Entrapta arrived at his cell (or at least what apparently passed as a ‘cell’ in Brightmoon) wearing her usual clothes, though he noticed they were free of stains, and she had added a small pink bow tie which Hordak found exceptionally adorable.

“Hordak,” Entrapta said, lifting herself up to his height with her hair and offering him her arm.

“My Lady,” Hordak replied with a bow, linking his arm through hers.

Entrapta pulled her tablet out of her hair, making a check on a list. “Pick Hordak up, complete! Next step, arrive at Fancy Restaurant, in progress!”

As they walked, Hordak’s guards close behind them, Hordak couldn’t help but notice that Entrapta seemed a little nervous.

“How is Wrong Hordak doing?” He asked, attempting to make ‘small talk’.

“Oh, he’s doing excellent,” Entrapta replied, brightening up a bit. “He’s been working with some of the other Clones, helping them acclimatise to freedom. He discovered that he can change his eye and teeth colour and has just been cycling them constantly since then… It’s very pretty but a little disorientating.”

Hordak nodded, glad to hear about his brother's progress. He had been forbidden from interacting with the other freed Clones by the Princesses. They seemed to think he would be a ‘bad influence’.

“I believe that was once used by my species as an emotional indicator, as our faces are less expressive than yours.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Entrapta stopped, turning to Hordak. “You are wonderfully expressive! Your ears, especially I’ve noticed, are an excellent indicator of your mood.”

Hordak couldn’t help but reach up to touch his ears. He didn’t think he had been expressing any emotions, but as with their relationship, Entrapta seemed to be more aware of these things than he was.

“You don’t find it… offputting?” Hordak asked.

“Of course not!” Entrapta beamed at him. “I mean, I’ve never been very good with my own species’ facial expressions, so it hasn’t been any trouble to study yours.”

Hordak felt rather flattered that Entrapta had been paying such close attention to his emotional state.  
And now that he was thinking about it he noticed his ears flicking upwards in an embarrassingly eager way.

“See?” Entrapta leaned in close to him, brushing his ear lightly with her hair, making him quiver involuntarily. “That means you’re happy.”

“Being in your presence tends to have that effect,” Hordak said, trying his best to retain his composure.

They arrived at the restaurant, Entrapta quickly checking it off her list and started to enter when the Host moved to block them.

“Hello!” Entrapta said cheerfully “I have reserved seating for two people.”

“I’m sorry,” The Host smiled, far too widely, “But we are currently full.”

“What?” Entrapta looked confused, pulling out her tablet and flicking back through it “No, I pre-arranged this two days ago.”

Hordak took Entrapta’s hand gently, noticing the worried glances the host was shooting at him. “Entrapta, I think we should leave.”

“No!” Entrapta was starting to get frustrated. “I prepared everything very carefully, I didn’t forget.”

“Well, at the time you made the reservation we were not aware of your… choice of guest.” The Host stared pointedly at Hordak.

“It’s alright, Entrapta,” Hordak started to pull Entrapta away gently, noticing his guards getting closer, seemingly ready for trouble.

“But… But that's not fair,” Entrapta said sadly, following Hordak’s lead.

“I am not exactly the most popular person on Etheria right now,” Hordak forced a smile, his ears drooping downwards.

“But you’re good now!” Entrapta crossed her arms tightly, scowling at the ground.

“Not everyone is as quick to forgive as you are” Hordak reached out to lift Entraptas chin “And if I am to stay here, I must accept the consequences of my actions… Being refused service is a relatively minor punishment, all things considered.”

“I had everything planned out so carefully,” Entrapta pouted, “And now it’s all ruined.”

Hordak hated to see Entrapta upset. It made him want to rage and yell and tear the damn place to the ground. But that would not be very helpful to their overall situation.

“Nothing is ruined, we are simply changing objectives.” Hordak took her arm. “Follow me.”

There was a small hill in a clearing behind the Castle where Hordak had been working on a little project.

He had planned to show it to Entrapta on a night with optimal conditions, but he wanted this ‘Date’ to be a success for her, and there were relatively few clouds, so now seemed perfect.

While spyglasses and binoculars were common on Etheria, proper stargazing telescopes were not.  
After all, until very recently there had been nothing to look at.

It had not been hard for Hordak to acquire some mirrors and lenses. Though constructing the housing took a little more effort, now that he didn’t have access to his sanctum.  
Doing it all without Entrapta’s knowledge had been the real challenge.

Entrapta was a little confused at first when he pulled back the tarp to reveal his creation.  
But before he could explain what it was she had already begun examining it, quickly deducing its function.

“Hordak!” Entrapta gasped in wonder as she looked through the scope “This is amazing, there's… there’s so many more than I imagined!”

Hordak felt himself puff up slightly with pride, the look on Entrapta’s face confirming that his work had been worth it. “Of course, the number of stars visible with the naked eye is only a tiny percent of those present in the galaxy. With a radio telescope or an orbital satellite we could see even more, but this was the best I could do with present materials.”

Entrapta remained glued to the scope, slowly panning around the sky.  
Hordak settled down beside her, taking her tablet to note down her findings as she called them out to him.

They spent the next few hours gazing up at the stars. Hordak told her all the names of the stars he knew, which was quite a lot, but not nearly enough to satisfy her curiosity.

He might not have been the best note taker, more than a few times catching himself just staring at Entrapta, soaking in her looks of wonder and excitement, the little wiggles she would make as she discovered something new and the way her hair curled and flicked around her.

To him she seemed far more beautiful than any heavenly body.

Eventually she started to slow down, stifling little yawns.  
Once her hair started to warp around her like a blanket Hordak knew it was time to stop for the night.

“You need to sleep. We can continue tomorrow night,” Hordak gently scooped Entrapta up in his arms.

“One more nebula,” Entrapta said sleepily, kicking her legs gently but not resisting. Her hair wrapped around Hordak’s chest.

Hordak carried Entrapta back to her quarters in the castle, navigating the precarious piles of junk to place her carefully on the huge bed.

“Goodnight, Entrapta.” Hordak turned to leave when one of Entraptas pigtails wrapped around his leg.

“Wait, is there anything else you want to do?” Entrapta yawned, propping herself up with her elbows.

Hordak frowned, trying to think if he had forgotten something. “Was the date not satisfactory?”

“It was wonderful!” Entrapta rolled over on the bed, pulling an awkward face. “It’s just… I was asking Lonnie for advice, because I’ve never been on a date before, and she said that “guys only think about one thing”.”

Hordak was confused for a second until he remembered his previous conversation with Scorpia and Perfuma. It seemed that Entrapta had been seeking similar answers to him.

“You needn't be worried. As a clone I have no interest in such things.”

“None at all?” Entrapta regarded Hordak curiously.

“Well… ahh…” Hordak squirmed a little nervously, the tips of his ears twitching. “Do you want me to?”

Entrapta smiled “Well, right now I mostly want to sleep.”

“Then I shall bid you Goodnight.” Hordak bowed and moved to leave but Entrapta stopped him again.

“Could you stay?”

“Of course,” Hordak replied without thinking, his hearts beating slightly faster.

There was plenty of space, but as soon as Hordak climbed in Entrapta shuffled over to be right next to him, her hair wrapping over him like a blanket.

“It could be a very interesting experiment.” Entrapta mumbled softly, so close that Hordak could feel her breath on his skin.

Entrapta fell asleep almost immediately. But Hordak stayed awake for quite a while, watching her sleep and wondering what he might have gotten himself into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Failure is nothing to be ashamed of, but Entrapta had planned everything out very carefully to deal with nerves and was fustrated that it was disrupted.
> 
> In Lonnie's defence, if she had a dollar for every time she caught Kyle and Rogelio in flagrante delicto she'd own Brightmoon.
> 
> Also, Improved punctuation and other fixed errors thanks to my amazing partner who edited this for me <3


	2. Experimental Affection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta and Hordak spend some well deserved quiet time together and Entrapta discovers that Hordak is rather ignorant of his own biology.

Hordak didn’t like to dream.  
Since the final battle they had all been the same.

He stood before Horde Prime, trying to strike him down, struggling with all his might.  
But his body felt like it was moving through tar, his limbs drained of all strength.

He was pathetic, completely helpless as Prime advanced on him. Grabbing his face and stepping into his body.

Then he would watch as Prime used his own hands to strike Entrapta to the ground. Seeing the look of horror and betrayal on her face.

He could feel Prime’s fury as he looked down at Entrapta; the desire to hurt her, to break her. All to punish Hordak for his worthless attempt to usurp Prime’s will.

He would wake up, thrashing and flailing as he desperately struggled for control, soaked with sweat.  
And he wouldn’t be able to calm down until he rushed to a mirror to check that his eyes were still red.

But this night he slept calmly, with strange fleeting dreams of soft warm flesh and confusing emotions.

He woke up slowly, with his head in Entrapta’s lap; her fingers running gently through his hair in a way that made him let out a strange, rolling chirp. The odd noise startling him fully into wakefulness.

“Oooooohhh~” Entrapta cooed, looking down at him, her eyes twinkling in that way they did when she was particularly fascinated. “Is that a good noise?”

“I don’t know,” Hordak rubbed his eyes, feeling more than a little confused by himself. “I’ve never done that before...” 

Entrapta grabbed her tablet, still idly playing with his hair. “There’s so many fascinating things we still have to learn about your species, even your hair is interesting! It’s very thick, and the texture is almost… feathery.”

Hordak was having trouble focusing on Entrapta’s words, the way she was massaging his hair made him feel exceptionally relaxed, almost at risk of falling back to sleep. “Etherians don’t have nerves in their hair do they?”

Entrapta let out a little gasp and withdrew her hand quickly “You can feel that? I’m sorry, I should have asked for permission before touching you like that.”

“It’s quite alright,” Hordak said, rather hoping that she would continue. “It isn’t painful. It doesn’t have any real useful function, unlike your hair. Sensing wind speed and direction is about all it can do.”

Entrapta made some quick notes on her tablet, her face deep in thought. “Fascinating…Perhaps your species was once able to fly? That would explain Imp’s wings... He was a failed attempt at cloning was he not?”

 _Imp_... Hordaks ears drooped.  
He couldn’t believe he forgot about his annoying little companion.

The mistake he couldn’t bring himself to destroy.

But if one of Prime’s clones had found him, they wouldn’t have hesitated for a moment.  
He was a corruption of Prime’s divine form, an abomination in their eyes.

“Hordak? You are upset. Did I say something wrong?”

“Imp… The last time I saw him was in the Fright Zone, before Prime... “

“Oh, he’s staying with Kyle and Rogelio. He’s fine, he even put on weight!”

Hordaks concern turned to relief, then to indignation.

“He should have returned to me immediately.” Hordak growled “Not let himself be spoiled.”

“Maybe he didn’t know you would miss him?”

“I don’t miss him,” Hordak snapped “I just…”

Entrapta folded her arms, frowning down at him. “Hordak. Remember what we talked about? Pertaining to our connections to others?”

“Yes,” Hordak sighed, his ears flicking back in frustration.

“I would like you to repeat it back to me.”

Hordak squirmed. Entrapta wasn’t going to let him get away with that little lie.

“Our connections to other people are not weaknesses...” He grumbled under his breath.

“Good Hordak!” Entrapta clapped her hands happily. “Remember, without our connections to each other we would never have defeated Horde Prime!”

Hordak struggled to look grumpy but the tips of his ears were flushed deep blue.  
He was not used to praise, and coming from Entrapta even such small words could be… Incapacitating.

“I don’t think I could claim any part in that victory.” Hordak sighed softly. “Not with my pathetic attempt at rebellion.”

“You tried,” Entrapta’s hair curled around him, holding him gently but firmly. “You broke away from everything you had ever known and you fought.”

Hordak was silent. He had failed. That was what he felt. He had tried to take control of his life, make a decision solely for himself for the first time ever.

And He Had Failed.  
That failure came with no learning, no progress; just helplessness.

And now he felt… Lost.  
For the first time in his life he was without a clear goal.

He made a decision to fight for Entrapta’s happiness, to defend his friend.

But now that they were safe, or at least relatively so... There was no one left to fight.

He still wanted to make Entrapta happy, but he wasn’t really sure how to do that.

“Hordak, do you remember what we talked about last night?”

“The telescope?” Hordak hadn’t realised how long he had faded out for, lost in his thoughts.

“After that.” Entraptas tone was surprisingly coy, she was usually so straight to the point.

“Oh… _That_ ,” Hordak felt his face heat up a little as he remembered. “Well, as I said I am happy to… accommodate you in any way.”

“That's very sweet, but that's not what I want.” Entrapta smiled down at him. “It needs to be a mutual thing. I want you to feel ‘good’.”

Hordak struggled to think about things that made him feel ‘good’. Victory was satisfying, as was completing a project. Seeing Entrapta happy certainly filled him with a sort of fluffy warmth.

But the physical side of things?

“I don’t know if that is possible, I was not made to feel ‘good’.”

Entrapta didn’t seem concerned, if anything her smile got a bit wider. “In that case, I propose an experiment!”

“Elaborate...” Hordak felt a little suspicious at the twinkle in Entrapta’s eyes.

“A survey of your sensory response to various physical stimuli.”

“That sounds... reasonable.” Hordak had to admit, lying here in Entrapta’s lap was probably the closest he had ever come to feeling ‘good’. And if it was what she wanted, he would happily be her subject.

“May I touch your hair again?” Entrapta’s hair moved in a quick flurry, preparing her tablet and her recorder.

“Of course.”

“Preceding with establishment of baseline,” Entrapta spoke quickly into her recorder. “Manual stimulation of hair.”

Hordak closed his eyes as Entrapta began to gently play with his hair, the sensation really was quite agreeable.

“You said it wasn’t painful, but is it nice?”

“It’s very relaxing,” Hordak rumbled softly.

“Then, if we consider this a 5.5 on a scale of 1 to 10, you can use this to evaluate other sensations.” Entrapta paused for a moment but Hordak was feeling far too satisfied to say anything. “May I continue?”

Hordak nodded quickly, leaning into Entrapta’s touch.

A lock of Entrapta’s hair curled down and lightly stroked Hordak’s ear.

“F-five point six” Hordak said, his toes curling.

Entrapta let out a skeptical hum, reaching her hand down to gently rub his ear.

Hordak couldn’t hold back the vibrations building in the back of his throat, letting out a long, rolling chirp.

“That was entirely involuntary,” Hordak said quickly, his cheeks flushing, “and… Five point seven.”

“Hordak!” Entrapta removed her hands, scowling lightly down at Hordak, “if you aren't honest in your evaluations then my data is worthless.”

“Maybe a seven then,” Hordak mumbled.

“Good boy.”

Hordak shivered, his hearts racing a little faster. “Eight,” he said immediately without thinking.

“Oh, fascinating!” Entrapta spoke into her recorder. “Extra note, strong positive response to praise.”

“Please don’t record that.” Hordak covered his face with his hands, his whole face blushing bright blue.

“This is for both our benefits, remember?” Entrapta smiled down at him playfully. “I like making you feel good.”

“I am questioning your methodology,” Hordak mumbled through his hands.

“I will be accepting peer review at time of publishing.” Entrapta bent over to plant a quick kiss on his ear. “Until then, you are at my mercy.”

Hordak’s brain seemed to short circuit slightly. Entrapta’s lips were even softer than her hair, warm and soft.

Those two concepts seemed to chase themselves around his brain, forcing out any other thoughts.

“Hordak? Your assessment?” Entrapta was talking to him.

“Perhaps… you should do it again?” Hordak said eventually.

Entrapta leaned down again, this time kissing his cheek.

Hordak’s cheeks were less sensitive than his ears, but it still made his hearts race; filling his chest with a desperate, needy yearning.

“One more time?” Hordak reached up to cup Entrapta’s cheek.

She leaned into his touch, letting him guide her down to his lips.

The doors flew open with a loud bang, Adora bursting through with her sword drawn.

“Entrapta! Are you-” 

Adora froze as she saw the two of them on the bed, her eyes going wide.

“Hi, Adora!” Entrapta called out cheerfully. “We were just-”

“Nothing!” Hordak interjected quickly, sitting bolt upright. “Doing, nothing.”

“Oh, wow,” Adora turned her back on them, her sword disappearing in a flash of light. “This is disturbing on so many levels… The ahh, guards said you’d been in here for a long time and I wanted to check on Entrapta.”

“Thanks Adora, I’m doing great.” Entrapta craned her neck, trying to see what Adora was looking at.

“Cool!” Adora said, a little too loudly. “Then, Hordak, just keep not being evil.”

“Harming you or anyone else on Eternia serves me no purpose, especially not Entrapta.” Hordak felt a little insulted by Adora’s assumption. “Now, I only wish to find peace.”

“Now you want peace,” Adora snorted, half in amusement, half frustration. “Well, I’ve been talking with the Princesses. We’ve almost decided on what to do with you.”

Adora pulled the doors closed behind her, striding off before Hordak could say anything else.

“Were you aware of this?” Hordak turned to Entrapta.

Entrapta shrugged. “When they say “The Princesses”,” making the air quotes with her hair, “they usually don’t mean me. Just the important Princesses, with the magic powers.”

“You are by far the most intelligent and powerful of all those colourful fools,” Hordak scowled, wishing he had something to crush. “If Catra hadn’t… separated us, they wouldn't have lasted another week against your inventions.”

“Awwwww,” Entrapta leapt onto Hordak’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck. “That's so sweet. I did have some new concepts in reactive shielding that I think would have been very effective.”

“They disregard you at their peril.” 

Entrapta let out a happy chuckle, squeezing Hordak tightly.

“Would you like to resume our experiment?”

“Not right now.” Hordak sighed heavily. He did want to of course. But the moment had been ruined. “I think... I would like to see Imp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adora is very glad that she is old enough to drink now.


	3. Reunited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta and Hordak go to visit Imp and the Poly Disaster Trio.
> 
> Hordak gains some hope that a peaceful existance might not be that bad after all.

The three former Horde soldiers were staying in a boarding house on the edge of the city.

Brightmoon was still full of refugees and people waiting to make their way home, so they had blended in without any trouble.

It was a small space, intended for one person, but it still felt luxurious to them compared to the communal Horde barracks.

Entrapta, of course, barged straight in without knocking, shouting her greetings.

They were lounging around the small living space, Kyle sprawled across Lonnie’s lap.

“Hey Entrapta!” Lonnie called out as she entered “How’d the date go? You get...” her voice trailed off as she saw Hordak behind Entrapta.

“Lord Hordak!” Lonnie and Rogelio leapt to their feet, sending Kyle crashing to the ground, and snapped to attention.

“That is unnecessary,” Hordak bowed his head. “You owe me no deference, I am simply here to see Imp.”

Rogelio relaxed, but Lonnie still seemed cautious, looking like she half expected Hordak to attack them.

“He’s having his nap,” Kyle said, getting to his feet. “I can get-”

Hordak shook his head. “No, let him rest…” He shuffled uncomfortably, trying to find the words that he needed to say. “I would like to express my gratitude to you, for caring for him. And my regret, for how you were treated in the final days of the war.”

They stood there, looking at him expectantly.

“Hordak” Entrapta whispered to him “You were about to apologise?”

“I just did?” Hordak looked at her, confused. Sighing as he saw her expectant expression.

“I am sorry,” Hordak continued. “I became too caught up in my own personal agenda to see that Catra had become unstable and that resulted in a dereliction of my duty to you, my soldiers.”

Entrapta gave Hordak a thumbs up. Lonnie looked a little confused but Kyle and Rogelio looked happy.

“You do know we deserted right?” Lonnie asked suspiciously.

Hordak nodded. “It was a reasonable decision at the time. I was no longer a fit leader.”

“Okay… cool,” Lonnie sat down slowly. “I thought you might want revenge or something.”

“If anything you should be the ones seeking revenge. I would not blame you.”

Lonnie perked up, grinning broadly. “You mean I can beat you up a bit or something?”

“If that would bring you satisfaction?”

Kyle jumped in front of Lonnie, wringing his hands nervously. “She’s joking, of course. We’re all cool with how everything turned out! No problems here!”

Rogelio growled loudly in a conformational manner, moving to put his hand on Lonnie’s shoulder.

“Yeah! You’ve all been doing a great job adapting to life here.” Entrapta piped up, using her hair to swing over into one of the empty seats.

“Except for how boring it is.” Lonnie muttered, “And how you need ‘money’ for everything.”

“It’s not that bad,” Kyle said, looking proud. “If I sit on the corner and look sad, people just give me money!”

“Have you considered joining Princess Scorpia?” Hordak asked. “She is welcoming all former Horde soldiers to her new kingdom.”

Lonnie just shrugged, grabbing Kyle and pulling him back into her lap.

“CAKE!” Kyle’s voice sounded loudly from the small bedroom, followed shortly after by Imp, looking much rounder than the last time Hordak had seen him.

“Imp,” Hordak knelt, extending a hand to him. “It is good to see you… well fed.”

Imp looked at Hordak for a few seconds before hissing at him and jumping into Entrapta’s lap.

“Awww, don’t be like that, cutie,” Entrapta giggled, hugging Imp tightly. “He missed you.”

“Uncle Kyle is the best!” Imp said, in Kyle’s voice.

“He said it!” Kyle said, his eyes sparkling with tears of happiness.

“Hordak stinks!” Imp said, this time in Lonnie’s voice.

Hordak stood slowly, straightening his tunic and trying not to let his disappointment show. “Very well. Maybe it is best for him to remain with you. I will be facing judgement for my actions soon and he needs a stable situation.”

Hodrak nodded his head to Entrapta and turned for the door.

“Hordak, wait, you don’t have to go,” Entrapta sounded sad. But Hordak didn’t want to hang around any longer than he had to.

“I’ve done what I needed to do.”

Hordak felt betrayed. Imp was possibly the one creature on Eternia he thought really relied on him, but apparently he was easily replaced.

He understood of course, clearly anyone would be a better family for Imp than he was.

He was not generous with his affection, nor with cake.

“Oh, come on,” Lonnie sighed. “Why don’t we go get something to eat together? You can pay.”

Hordak froze. Lonnie’s casual tone was confusing. But was she actually attempting to cheer him up?

Had his snap reaction been so childish that she, someone who had every right to hate him, was being the ‘mature’ one?

“I actually quite like Hordak.” Imp said quietly in Entraptas voice.   
He wondered where Imp had overheard that.

Hordak berated himself for being so quick to throw a tantrum. It was something he had been trying to work on, but anger had been his only emotion for so long it was easy to slip back into it.

But he had to do better.  
Imp was little more than a child, and to him it must have seemed that he was abandoned without warning. Imp couldn't be blamed for reacting emotionally.  
He however, had no such excuse.

Hordak rubbed his chin thoughtfully, speaking with feigned seriousness. “I wonder if there is anywhere in Brightmoon that stocks ration bars?”

The three former soldiers stared at Hordak in bewilderment.

“Did Hordak just make a joke?” Kyle whispered to Lonnie.

“I apologise,” Hordak said quickly. “Was that inappro-”

He was cut off as Lonnie and Rogelio started laughing.

“No way. You’re getting us something fancy,” Lonnie said with a large smile, getting up and punching Hordak lightly in the shoulder.

“Were they really that bad?” Hordak asked, rubbing his arm. Lonnie was quite strong, he almost felt a sense of pride. “They were carefully formulated for nutritional value.”

“They tasted like dirt!” Rogelio roared in Saurian, “Dead dirt!”

Lonnie laughed even louder, grabbing her coat and shoving Kyle towards the door, sending him stumbling into Hordak.

After a bit of wandering they found a street kebab stall willing to serve them.  
Hordak hadn’t considered large amounts of greasy meat to be ‘fancy’ but it was apparently good enough for the trio.

Entrapta paid as Hordak didn’t actually have any money.

He hung back a little, letting Entrapta do most of the talking for him.

They were so loud and rowdy, constantly wrestling and shoving each other, laughing at in-jokes. He had thought it would get annoying very quickly but it was actually quite nice somehow.

Just being a normal person, having them treat him casually, almost like a friend.

Imp even came over and settled on his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek and chirping out some of the new words and phrases he had heard.

But through all this his Guards were still following him at a short distance. A constant reminder of the judgement that hung over his head.

He wished the Princesses would hurry up and make a decision. It was exceedingly inefficient of them to leave him waiting this long, his future uncertain.

Brightmoon didn’t seem to have facilities for imprisonment, though perhaps they were hidden away, in some sort of mine or secret magical dungeon.

Hordak knew that,in their position, he would be calling for execution.

It would be only prudent. They had no way of knowing that his ‘change of heart’ was in earnest.

Hordak was drawn back to the present by the sound of his name.

“-and he makes the cutest noise when he’s really comfy!” Entrapta was saying to Lonnie. “It’s similar to a purr, but all high pitched and chirpy! I’ve got a recording here.”

Hordak rushed to intercept Entrapta as she pulled out her tablet. “That data is private! Not to be shared with anyone else.”

He knew it was medically unlikely but he felt like he would drop dead if Entrapta played those recordings in public.

“Ohhhh, it’s true!” Lonnie gasped, pointing at Hordak, “Look, his ears are all blue!”

Hordak shot a glare at Entrapta but he knew he couldn’t stay mad at her, no matter how much she ruined his reputation.  
Not that his glares had any effect on her, anyway.

“I’m sorry,” Lonnie laughed. “We used to be so terrified of you, it’s so weird to know that you’re just a dork who gets all embarrassed by his girlfriend.”

“It’s kind of nice to know you’re a real person,” Kyle said quietly. “Not just a scary monster.”

“Thank you, Kyle.” Hordak said, trying to regain his dignity. “I have been attempting to be a better ‘person’, and it is nice to have those efforts recognised.”

“What do you say, Imp?” Lonnie stretched up on her tiptoes to reach towards Imp, still perched on Hordaks shoulder. “Wanna give him another chance?”

Imp nuzzled Hordaks cheek softly, repeating in Lonnie's voice. “Just a dork.”

“I promise, I will not disappear like that again,” Hordak said, scratching Imp’s head.

“It’ll be nice to have some privacy again.” Lonnie sighed. “We are WAY too young to have kids.”

Rogelio sniffed, wiping at his eyes.

He opened his arms wide and Imp dived off Hordak’s shoulder, gliding over to hug the big lizard man.

“Just... you be good, alright?” Lonnie folded her arms, doing her best to look tough. “Don’t forget about us too quick.”

“Yes, Mommy,” Imp said loudly in Kyle's voice. Making both Kyle and Lonnie blush brightly.

“We will both be eternally grateful.” Hordak said, choosing to ignore the awkward moment. “And I’m sure he will find his way to visit you.” Hordak permitted himself a little smirk. “Probably at highly inconvenient times.”

Hordak wanted to spend a bit more time exploring the outskirts of Brightmoon but his guards stepped forwards to ‘gently advise’ him to return to the Castle. Stating that his presence could be disruptive.

It was raining that night, much to Hordak’s frustration.

He considered attempting to overload the Moonstone to blow away the clouds, but eventually decided it was better for Entrapta to get a good night's sleep.

Instead, Hordak stayed up in his cell, studying some of the books Entrapta had given him.They were apparently texts intended to teach Etherian children how to be ‘nice’ but Hordak found them incredibly confusing.

The colours and illustrations were quite interesting, in a whimsical kind of way. But he just didn’t understand why Benny Bear had to share his honey with Sally Squirrel when all logic dictated that he should simply kill and eat her.

He clearly still had a lot to learn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more quiet fluff.
> 
> I'm dragging my feet getting to the stressful stuff because I just want them to be happy and chill forever :D


	4. Judgement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak is sentenced to grueling _Community Service._
> 
> Entrapta can't wait.

The sun was barely beginning to creep over the horizon when Hordak was roused by a heavy knock on his door.

Adora was flanked by a number of Guards, her expression hard.

“Is it time?” Hordak asked.

Adora simply nodded.

Hordak stretched, getting off the bed slowly. He hadn't been sleeping, just deep in thought.

“May I make myself presentable?”

“Five minutes” Adora said curtly, stepping out and closing the door behind her.

Hordak dressed himself carefully in his old Horde finery.

The sleek dress, adorned with the Horde symbol and his most voluminous cape and cowl.

It might be a little inflammatory, but he had nothing to hide. He would present himself proudly and accept the consequences of his actions.

Imp glided over to scramble up onto his shoulder but Hordak placed him gently back on the bed “Wait for me here Imp, if I’m not back soon, find Entrapta. I may be delayed for some time.”

Imp scowled, clearly unhappy. “CAKE!” He said in Kyle's voice.

“Alright, you may go and look for cake, I’m sure the kitchens will have some. Just don’t eat too much or you won’t be able to fly anymore.”

Hordak gave Imp a gentle pat on the head before the tiny clone waddled over to hop out the window.

He had promised not to abandon Imp again, he hoped the Princesses would not make him a liar.

Once he was ready Adora led him through the castle, the guards marching either side of him.

“Adora.” Horde said quietly “I realise I haven’t thanked you properly, for saving me. It would have been easier to simply kill me and Horde Prime at the same time, but you gave me a second chance.”

Adora stopped, turning to face him.

“Don’t confuse mercy with forgiveness.”

“I merely-”

Adora cut Hordak off with a glare.

“I don’t want you anywhere near me, or Catra. Ever again. The damage you and Shadow Weaver did to us…” Adora took a deep breath, turning her back on Hordak and continuing walking. “It’s not something that just heals.”

Hordak was silent. Not wanting to antagonise her further.

He had wanted to tell her how proud he was.

Despite all his attempts to turn her into a weapon of destruction, she had risen above it all and saved not just Etheria, but the entire universe.

She had broken her programming in a way that Hordak didn’t think was possible. And that left him no excuse to not try and do the same.

When he found that tiny child, alone on the plain. It was probably the only good thing he had ever done in his life.

Not that he was so arrogant to take any credit for Adoras achievements. They were in spite of him, which only made them more impressive.

Adora led him to a large chamber where all the Princesses (Entrapta noticeably absent) were seated around a semi-circular table.

She had him stand on a small podium in the centre of the room before moving to take her seat beside Queen Glimmer.

Hordak knew Glimmer well. And her family.

He had taken her father from her as a child, sending him what he assumed would be his death on Beast Island.

Her mother too, had been lost during the disastrous activation of his portal.

Hordak wondered if she might call for his execution afterall.

“Hordak!” Glimmer stood, staff in her hand. “By our laws you are entitled to a trail.”

“I plead guilty to all charges.” Hordak held his head high, his shoulders squared. “I offer no defence and will accept your judgement.”

“Well, that makes things a lot easier for us.” Glimmer smiled. But Hordak didn’t think it was a happy smile.

Entrapta had been teaching him that facial expressions often had different meanings depending on subtle indicators, but he had yet to grasp them.

Hordak looked around the arrayed Princesses. Trying to remember all the ways he had hurt them personally.

Destroyed their kingdoms, razed their lands… Killed their parents.

Even Scorpia, who gave him a cheerful wave. He had betrayed her family's kindness, stealing not just her kingdom, but her history and her culture. Raising her on lies to be loyal only to him.

He hoped that she could find a life of her own. The damage he had done to her family's land ran deep. But if he deserved a second chance then she deserved it far more.

“We of the Princess Alliance sentence you to an indefinite period of Community Service-”

Community Service! Hordak almost laughed out loud. He had always thought the Princesses to be overly soft and sentimental but this seemed ridiculous.

“-on Beast Island. Remaining there until the island is deemed fit for peaceful habitation.”

Oh.

Hordak realised he probably should have seen that coming.

“Beast Island!” Entraptas voice sounded from above. Hordak glanced up to see her dangling by her hair from a small panel in the ceiling. “YESS!! This is going to be great!”

“Entrapta!” Glimmer shouted up at her. “I told you to wait outside!”

“Sorry!” Entrapta shouted back, scurrying up into the roof. “I can’t wait to see Daphne again!”

Glimmer sighed, massaging her temples before turning back to Hordak. “Well, I guess she will be going with you. As will three of your force captains who have already been tried. You will be given supplies and one week to prepare. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Hordak gathered his thoughts. Entrapta seemed pleased, not that that was any indication of the safety of the situation. But if Micah could survive there alone for almost twenty years, perhaps it wouldn’t be that bad?

“I thank the Alliance for your mercy.” Hordak gave Glimmer a deep, sweeping bow. “I will seek to perform this task to the best of my abilities.”

Entrapta was waiting for Hordak outside, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Tell me, is this task possible” Hordak asked quickly. He could see that Entrapta was about to launch into a rant, and while he loved to listen to her talk, he had more pressing concerns.

“Of course!” Entrapta shouted, her excitement overcoming her volume control. “Beast Island was basically just a First Ones dump, where they disposed of old technology and hazardous materials. It’s been soaking into the ground for who knows how long, affecting the area's natural magical resonance and mutating the creatures that live there. But with the proper containment we should be able to neutralise the contaminants and begin the process of healing!”

Hordak nodded. Disposal of hazardous materials was something he understood. Part of keeping the Fright Zone functioning had included careful management of such byproducts.

“Do you have any theories on how to manufacture such containment?”

“Not as such.” Entrapta was grinning from ear to ear. “All the materials could have completely different requirements! We’re going to have to analyse and catalog every last scrap!” She lifted herself up with her hair, her whole body wiggling with excitement. “This could give us unparalleled insight into First Ones technology and manufacturing processes!”

Hordak couldn’t help but smile, it was very difficult to remain serious with Entrapta so worked up. “It sounds like we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

“If you can call it work!” Entrapta snorted, tossing herself into Hordaks arms with enough force to spin him around. “It’s more like a dream come true! A chance to dissect an entire living ecosystem!? Breaking it down into its base elements?” she let out a long moan that made Hordaks ears flush “WE’RE GOING TO LEARN SO MUCH!”

Perhaps it would not be that bad at all..

He had already decided to make Entraptas happiness his priority, and this certainly seemed to be making her happy.

He just had to make sure that they survived long enough to complete their lofty goal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short update this time.  
> It was going to be longer but it fit more neatly as its own chapter


	5. Programming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginning preparations for their indefinite sentence on Beast Island, Hordak has a bit of an existential crisis, questioning his own feelings and motivations.

It felt good to be back in a Lab with Entrapta again.

With only one week to prepare for the monumental task of making Beast Island habitable again they had to get to work immediately.

The amount of special equipment they would require was overwhelming.  
Mass spectrometers, gas chromatographs, radiation detectors, atheric field sensors; All of which had to be created from scratch.

Luckily they were able to commandeer Bow’s lab, as the young archer was away visiting his parents.

Hordak had expected it to be a mess but it was actually quite adequate. If he was not so obsessed with arrows, Bow could probably do great things for Etheria’s scientific community.

Defending themselves was a whole other problem. The Guards still watching him insisted that he was not to build any weapons or ‘dangerous’ devices.

Entrapta had already filled Hordak in on the information she had gathered during her stay on Beast Island.

He had been aware of the aggressive flora and fauna, and the strange atmospheric disturbances.  
He had not been aware of the magical signal that stripped a listeners will and drew them down into the ground, leaving them to slowly rot away.

Entrapta of course had already come up with a way to turn this into a benefit.  
She was working on emitters that would copy the resonance of the signal, without its magical effects.

Her theory, which Hordak agreed with, was that the creatures of the island would avoid these emitters like they avoided the centre of the Island.

This would allow them to create an invisible fence, repelling anything that might cause them harm.

This effect would likely not last forever. The creatures would eventually figure out the trick, but it could buy them valuable time to establish other defences.

It was times like these that Hordak wanted to worship Entrapta.  
Such a mind, created only through the chaotic chance combining of DNA, no genetic meddling. It seemed impossible.

She seemed like some kind of goddess.

These feelings disturbed him. Was it some aspect of his programming? The need to devote himself to an idol? To so desperately need her recognition and love?

He didn’t want to feel that way; he wanted his confusing feelings for her to be honest, to be his own desire, not just some sick need to replace Prime.

Hordak tried to focus on work to drive these thoughts from his head, pushing himself harder and harder.

After about two days and nights of constant work without sleep it seemed to be paying off. As Hordak slipped into a comfortably manic state, formulas and schemata replacing the difficult emotions.

Perform task, complete task, satisfaction.

Hordak had often desired to achieve a more robotically efficient form of consciousness. Free of all the whirling self-doubt and second guessing that troubled the more traditionally sentient, he would surely be unstoppable.

He had been working in this state for some time before Entrapta’s touch stopped him.

“Hordak, I think you need to take a break.” Her voice sounded slightly off.

“No time.” Hordak snapped quickly, not wanting to be disturbed. “I’m in the middle of a very important process.”

“Hordak.” Entrapta’s voice was more stern this time, as coils of hair grasped his wrists and pulled them to his sides, turning him to face her.

“I'm perfectly fine, Entrapta, please.” Hordak struggled. He didn’t want to think about things right now. Didn’t want to think about her touch. Of how beautiful her face looked in the warm lamp light. Or how her hurt expression caused a twang of empathic pain in his own chest.

“Your productivity has dropped by 600%. You’re currently working on three resonators glued together… and,” Entraptas voice dropped. “Your hands are shaking… You look like you’re in pain.”

Hordak had been suppressing his physical state with all the other things he didn’t want to feel right now. But as soon as she said it he felt the deep ache in his body.

Entrapta’s armor was a marvel, but it couldn’t prevent all the pain of his flawed body, especially when he pushed himself so recklessly.

“That is of no concern,” Hordak grumbled. Looking at his work with fresh eyes, he could see Entrapta was right, It was a nonsensical mess. But just a momentary lapse of judgement, he was sure he could fix it.

“It concerns me!” Entrapta picked Hordak up effortlessly, carrying him over to the small bunk in the corner of the room and sitting him down on it.

“You need to look after yourself, Hordak! This is serious, if you aren’t careful you’re going to cause permanent damage.” Entrapta seemed quite upset, that was clear even to Hordak.

Hordak reached out to touch Entrapta’s hand. He hated seeing her distressed, hated even more knowing he was the cause.  
He wanted her to be happy so desperately, he wanted to sacrifice everything for her.

But that wasn’t what she wanted from him. She cared for him, wanted to look after him.

“I’m scared,” Hordak said eventually, the lethargy that afflicted his muscles soaking deep inside him, making his hearts feel like they were sinking into his stomach.

“Of Beast Island?” Entrapta asked. “Don’t worry, I really think we can do this and I’ll keep you safe, no matter what.”

“No. No.” Hordak struggled to find the words, the rush of emotions forming a lump in his throat. “I… I’ve only even known one kind of love. And I only know how to love one way… And it’s poison, I don’t want that again.”

Entrapta grabbed Hordak’s arms tightly and pulled him towards her, kneeling up on the bunk to press her lips to his.

Hordak wasn’t sure how long they held the kiss, his head was spinning, the softness of her lips was maddening.  
It felt like all of his nerves were lighting up at once, like his body was a filament exposed to a current, suddenly incandescent.

“How did that feel?” Entrapta asked. “Did it feel wrong?”

“It felt wonderful.” Hordak gasped, still reeling from the experience.

“I don’t want you to worship me,” Entrapta said softly, still holding him tight. “I want to be your equal. We’re still Lab Partners, remember? Nothing else is going to change that. You don’t have to fight for my love, or prove yourself.” Entrapta blushed, looking down at their hands. “You already have it.”

Hordak would have liked to say something romantic in return. Some suave reciprocation of her love.

Instead he just broke down in tears, wrapping his arms around her and sobbing into her shoulder.

He didn’t understand it completely. What she said should have made him happy.  
Perhaps he was just too fragile to bear the weight of these emotions alongside the mental and physical fatigue.

Entrapta held him gently, rubbing his back softly and cooing quiet reassurances.

He could barely understand the words, but her voice was comforting.

There was something so freeing in a way, to show such vulnerability and not be derided.

Entrapta accepted him, all his flaws, all his weaknesses.

Her love was not dangled above him like a prize, it was given freely and honestly.

Hordak didn’t quite know how to process that. But it was good. And he wanted to learn.

Once he had no more tears to shed, Entrapta laid him down and covered him with a blanket. 

Holding his hand until he sank into sleep.

He wasn’t sure if the sun was rising or setting when he awoke, but he felt rested.

The pain in his body had subsided into a tolerable ache.

Entrapta was seated a short distance away, working on the mechanical abomination he had crafted in his frenzy.

“You’re awake!” Entrapta sang out as she saw him move. “Good! Using this arrangement of resonators, I think you’ve found a way to more precisely measure magical frequencies! It’s sort of a strange adaption of the double slit experiment, but it lets us isolate the magic as a particle instead of just a frequency.”

“Well, failure does drive scientific advancement.” Hordak sat up slowly, regarding Entrapta with wonder. “Though I think you may be overly generous crediting me with this discovery.”

Hordak wondered how a simple clone could be so lucky... what strange twist of fate had done him such an undeserved kindness?

But he wasn’t just a clone around her; he was an individual, someone unique and special. And she had chosen him.

Perhaps it was his duty now to make that choice a good one. To try and balance the scales enough to repay all the pain he had caused.

“Thank you. For looking after me. I was trying to escape… Certain feelings. But I feel much better now.”

“Emotional releases are important for good mental health,” Entrapta said matter-of-factly. “It’s okay to cry.”

Hordak moved to put his hand on Entrapta’s shoulder. Gathering himself mentally. “The words are difficult for me. But I just want you to know, your feelings are returned.”

Entrapta leant her cheek against Hordaks hand, her hair curling up to wrap around his waist. “I know… But thank you for saying it.”

Their work continued much more smoothly after that. Especially with Entrapta making sure Hordak got an adequate amount of sleep.

While Hordak technically didn't _require_ the same amount of sleep as an Etherian, it was hard to argue when she dragged him to bed with her and curled up next to him. The sound of her soft breathing lulling him to sleep.

And he certainly couldn’t argue with their increased productivity.

They managed to complete a little more than what they considered the bare minimum of the equipment they required before the deadline. Hopefully giving them a wide enough range of tools to have a fighting chance at analysing the myriad of anomalous materials.

Hordak even managed to construct some flamethrowers and small arms. As long as he kept the components unassembled the Guards would have no idea what they were looking at during inspection.

He still felt woefully underprepared, but not hopeless.

Hordak believed in Entrapta, and for some reason, she believed in him.

Together, they had almost destroyed the planet multiple times.

Perhaps together, they might be able to fix it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The concept of 'Love' really is a minefield for Hordak, so soon after his break from Prime.  
> Despite Entraptas best efforts he still has a lot of problems with self worth and fears of not being good enough that aren't going to go away over night.


	6. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak and Entrapta embark on their journey to Beast Island and find they have more company than they expected.

The date of their departure had arrived.

Hordak and Entrapta packed their equipment carefully and were escorted down to the docks, where a large ship from Salineas was waiting for them.

Hordak was surprised to see the number of people waiting there. His three former Force Captains, of course: Octavia, Grizzlor and Lowtail.

But there were others too, some he recognised from the Horde and some he did not.

“Hey Entrapta!” Lonnie shouted, running over with Kyle and Rogelio.

Imp immediately launched himself into Rogelio’s arms, cuddling the big lizard man.

“Hello,” Entrapta replied, looking a little confused. “Are you here to say goodbye?”

“We’re coming with you!” Lonnie beamed. “Don’t tell Scorpia, but going back to clean up the Fright Zone seems pretty boring. Conquering Beast Island, though… That sounds like fun.”

“Yeah… Fun.,” Kyle whimpered, looking utterly terrified. “All the Pookas and Slash-bats and Ear-Screwers… I can’t wait.”

“That's the spirit!” Lonnie slapped Kyle on the back before turning to Hordak. “But if you try to make us eat ration bars again I will kill you in your sleep.”

“Thankfully I don’t sleep much.” Hordak growled.

Lonnie threw back her head and laughed. “More jokes? Entrapta, what are you doing to him?”

“I haven’t done anything!” Entrapta said cheerfully, hugging Hordak’s arm. “Hordak’s fine just the way he is!”

Hordak felt his ears flushing a little. He hadn’t been joking, nor had he realised Lonnie was. But the attention was rather nice.

He had gotten used to people only responding to him with fear or anger, making someone laugh was interesting.

He rather liked it actually.

Lonnie and Rogelio started helping Entrapta load their cargo, leaving Imp to Kyle, and Hordak moved on to inspect the rest of the apparent ‘volunteers’.

There were two particularly suspicious looking individuals, a goat woman and a lizard with four arms, whom Hordak absolutely did not recognise.

They were lounging on some crates, apart from the rest of the group. Jumping to their feet as Hordak approached them.

“Hey, boss!” The Goat woman spoke in a drawl “Capra and Sizzle, reporting for duty!”

“Who are you?” Hordak growled, unconsciously assuming his ‘intimidating ruler’ stance. “You were not in the Horde.”

“Are you sure?” Capra asked. “We’ve got the jackets and everything!”

“I’m sure.” Hordak glared at them until their confidence began to wither.

“Okay, look,” Capra sighed, hanging her head. “We were kinda working for Catra, and then she ditched us, and we can't go back to the Crimson Wastes ‘cause Huntara’s gonna kill us, and if we stay here we’re gonna have to get a real job.”

Sizzle clasped all her hands together in a pleading motion.

“You realise this is not a holiday cruise? There will be a lot of work.”

“But we’ll get fed right?”

“Of course.” Hordak snorted. “Poor nutrition does not make for a good workforce.”

“Awesome! Thanks boss!” Capra clapped Hordak on the shoulder and dashed off onto the boat, Sizzle giving him four thumbs up. “We won’t let you down!”

Hordak groaned in frustration. He hadn’t realised he was agreeing to this, but he was in no position to turn away help.

After checking on some of the supplies being provided to them Hordak went over to speak to the former Force Captains.

“Lord Hordak!” The three of them snapped salutes, Grizzlor continuing. “It’s good to see you again, sir.”

Hordak sighed, wondering how many times he was going to have this conversation.

“Just Hordak now please. The Horde is behind us, we are simply equals, paying our debt to society.”

“Oh, yes of course,” Grizzlor nodded, looking a little unsure.

“It’s just been difficult, without you.” Octavia said. “We were so close to victory, then you disappeared and Horde Prime… They treated us pretty much the same as the rest of the Etherians. We didn’t know what to do.”

Hordak understood. And felt all the worse for it. He had modeled them after himself, after all.

Duty, discipline. For them it must have been like what happened to him so many years ago. Cut off from the Hivemind, without orders or direction for the first time in his life.

“I am deeply sorry for that.” Hordak bowed his head. “I failed you all, from the very beginning.”

“We’re all together again now though.” Lowtail growled in saurian. “And… it’s Beast Island, but if you’re leading us, we can do it right?”

“I promise, I will do my best for you and everyone else. And yes.” Hordak nodded. “I believe this is a campaign we can win.”

Lowtail started to salute, then stopped and clapped instead, her tail whipping back and forth.

Hordak had always liked the lizard people. They had little in the way of facial expressions, mostly using their tails to convey emotion, which he found much simpler to read.

“To all those here!” Hordak raised his voice to carry over the small group. “Especially those who have volunteered their presence. I thank you. Together, we shall shape Beast Island into a place of peace and prosperity!”

After this, Hordak went around to meet the other members of their small party. Some of them he remembered by name, others only by face. All former Horde soldiers.

Not counting him and Entrapta their small party numbered twelve. Which was not many, considering the size of the Horde. But Hordak hadn’t considered that any of them might choose to follow him.

They all seemed to have similar sentiments to Octavia and Lonnie. Lack of purpose. Difficulty adjusting to life outside the Horde.

Most of them were terrified of Beast Island, but their need for direction was stronger.

Hordak had mixed feelings about this. He wanted to be proud of their bravery, and their increased numbers certainly made their task seem less daunting.

But he knew that them being here was a result of the damage he had done to them.

It was his failure that they were not able to make their own new lives.

They were once again his responsibility, and he was determined not to fail them again.

Perhaps Beast Island could become a place where they could all find freedom.

They had loaded all the supplies and equipment and were ready to set off when Hordak saw Scorpia sprinting down the dock, Perfuma close behind her.

“Entrapta!” Scorpia gasped, almost falling over. “Hordak! Good luck!”

Perfuma rushed to her side, almost collapsing as Scorpia leaned on her. “Everything is super busy right now but we’ll come and visit as soon as we can! So… uh… Don’t die before then!”

“We won't!” Entrapta yelled back, leaning over the railing and anchoring herself with her hair. “Good luck with the Fright Zone! Be careful with the load bearing towers!”

Hordak just waved.

He had confidence in Scorpia. She might not have always been the most competent. But she knew how to ask for help. And she wouldn’t be alone.

He had kept extensive records and blueprints of everything in the Fright Zone so it should be simple to deconstruct anything she wanted to and repurpose the rest.

He wished he could have stayed to help her rebuild her family's land. It had been quite beautiful before Hordak had buried it in sheet metal and concrete.

But the Princesses had decided that he needed a more… potentially lethal task.

And if they expected him to perish attempting it, he was determined to disappoint them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The journey finally begins!
> 
> I find it interesting that I've seen a lot of stuff about helping the Clone's adapt to life outside the Horde but not much about Hordak's former soldiers. They don't have the same level of programming, but considering how hard it was for Adora to adapt, with Bow and Glimmer helping her, I feel like a lot of them are going to be struggling in the same way.


	7. Strike the Earth!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to Beast Island goes... fairly smoothly.
> 
> Entrapta is reunited with an old friend (who really needs some maintenance.)

Hordak stood at the ship's prow, feeling the sea air on his face.

It felt fresh, clean. Like the sharp salty air was stripping him down, peeling off the old paint and preparing him for new beginnings.

Entrapta joined him after some time, tapping away at her tablet.

“You look perky.” Entrapta said, leaning on the rail next to him.

“I am simply eager to get to work.” Hordak took a deep breath, closing his eyes and savouring the feeling of the wind rushing through his hair. “And… there is something… freeing, about sea voyages.”

“Hmmm… I guess it just seems a bit boring compared to being on a spaceship.” Entrapta flipped her visor down to keep the sea spray off her face. “Everything is so salty and sticky. We’d already be there if we were on Mara’s ship.”

“That is true. But this way we have more time to plan.”

“Oh yes!” Entrapta tapped rapidly at her tablet. Pulling up a long, scrolling list. “I’ve already created a list of objectives! Our first priority should be shutting off the signal.”

“And establishing a base of operations.” Hordak added.

“We can do both at the same time! The centre of the Island is the perfect place for a base, there's a secure, sheltered area, and the creatures already avoid it, so our ‘fence’ should be effective for longer!”

“That is logical.” Hordak said, mulling over the options in his head. “But we have a lot of supplies and equipment to move, would our team be able to survive the trip there?”

“Oh.” Entrapta hummed thoughtfully. “I didn’t think of that… Probably not. We could get there in Daphne, but I don’t think we could protect everyone.”

“Perhaps it would be best to set up at our landing site?” Hordak understood Entrapta’s enthusiasm to dive straight into the heart of Beast Island. But they had to be practical.

Without careful preparation and fortification it was unlikely that their team would survive long.

“We can shut off the signal together, then return to the group.” Hordak placed a hand on Entrapta’s shoulder. Her impatience was clear in the way she was fidgeting with her tablet. “We will return to examine it more carefully once we are prepared. Beast Island will keep no secrets from us, but we need to move slowly and carefully.”

“It was so much easier when I was there on my own.” Entrapta sighed.

“It will be more difficult in the beginning, but once we have established a strong foothold, we will be able to accomplish things we never could alone.”

“That's the power of teamwork!”

“Well, basic military strategy… But I suppose you could call it that.” Hordak couldn’t help but smile a little. It felt odd to be the one reminding Entrapta of the benefits of cooperation. But human resource management had always been more his specialty than Entrapta’s.

They stayed there, discussing strategy and plans for the future until the sun began to set.

Entrapta reminded Hordak to make sure he got some sleep, before boosting herself up with her hair to kiss his cheek. Dashing off as his ears flushed.

Hodak remained, feeling the gentle rocking of the ship beneath him and gazing up at the stars.

It was strange, for so long he had felt like Etheria was a prison, but now that the universe had opened up to him, there was nowhere he would rather be.

He wondered if he was holding Entrapta back.  
She should be amongst those stars, making new discoveries, not digging through an ancient landfill.

But there would be time for that in the future he reminded himself, they had their whole lives ahead of them, however long that turned out to be.

Eventually he decided to go find a bunk, but as he descended below decks he found his way blocked by two of the ship's crew. One a Merfolk, the other standard Etherian.

Hordak waited patiently for them to move, they seemed aware of him, but remained in his path.

“Excuse me.” He said finally, trying to keep his voice free of irritation.

“Oh? Are we in your way?” One of the sailors asked.

The question seemed obvious, but Hordak supposed they might have forgotten how narrow the passages were.

“Yes, I just need to pass through-”

“What are you gonna do about it then?” The sailor snapped, taking a step towards him.

Hordak sighed heavily. “Wait for you to move?”

“Ohhh you’re real _polite_ now aint ya?” The Merfolk growled, planting a hand on Hordaks chest and shoving him back.

“Waiting wasn’t good enough when you destroyed the Sea Gate was it?” The other sailor continued to advance on Hordak.

“When you razed the coast?” The Merfolk bared his teeth, his hands balling into fists. “I had family there. Had.”

Of course. Hordak thought. Not everyone would be happy with the Princesses judgement.

It was natural for them to seek personal satisfaction, especially when he had affected them so personally.

“The Sea Gate stood for a hundred generations!” The sailor hissed. “It’s not something you can just fix.”

Hordak opened his mouth to speak, stumbling back as the sailors fist slammed into his jaw.

“They shoulda tied a rock around your neck and dumped you overboard.” The Merfolk snarled, grabbing him by the collar and swinging him into the wall.

Hordak considered his options.

He could fight back, quite easily. Though it was weaker than his old set, Entrapta’s armor gave him more than enough strength to snap them in half.

But how would that help? It would only intensify the hatred towards him, possibly rousing the whole crew to riot.

_Hordak doubled over, struggling to breathe as the Merfolk kneed him in the stomach._

Was it not their right to seek justice after all? Hordak had already decided he would accept the consequences of his actions.

It seemed unlikely they would kill him.

_Blood filled his mouth as they struck him in the face, his vision wavering._

And it was much better that they vent their anger upon him rather than Entrapta or the rest of his small band. 

He was the one responsible.

_Hordak hit the ground. Sparks flashing behind his eyes._

Even the acts not performed by his own hands were the result of his orders.

_Their kicks were mostly striking his armor now. Cushioning most of the impact, just leaving a dull ache as his body shuddered with the hits._

Hordak had escaped any real repercussions of his war for so long. Hiding in his sanctum, letting his soldiers fight on the frontlines.

_Hordaks head snapped back as one of their boots found his chin, wrenching the muscles of his neck and making bile rise in this throat._

It seemed just that he should share in their pain at least once.

It took Hordak a while to realise they had ceased their beating. He might have blacked out briefly but he couldn’t tell.

Slowly he dragged himself to his feet, his muscles screaming, spiking off new bursts of pain as he tried to move.

His assailants were gone. Apparently satisfied.

Leaning against the wall, Hordak staggered to the bunks. Leaving flecks of blood in his wake.

“Hordak!”

Hordak awoke to Entrapta leaning over him, calling his name.

His whole body ached. Especially his face.

His left eye felt swollen, barely able to open..

“Hordak! What happened?” Entrapta looked distraught, that seemed to hurt worse somehow.

“I… tripped.” Hordak grunted, unconvincingly.

“That’s a lie.” Entrapta frowned at him. “Hordak please.”

“Fine… Some of the crew were displeased by my presence.”

Entrapta gasped, looking horrified. “How many… Why didn’t you defend yourself?”

“They had a right to seek justice.” Hordak groaned, pushing himself upright. “Salineas was hit particularly hard in the final days of the war.”

“Hordak…” Entrapta sighed, touching his cheek gently. “There’s a difference between justice and revenge. What did this fix? Did it make anything better?”

“I have no right to judge their actions.”

“You have a right to defend yourself!” Entrapa’s voice quavered, filled with emotion. “You’re still a person, you don’t have to suddenly become a martyr!” She leaned forwards, resting her head on his chest. “I know you want to make things better, but just punishing yourself doesn’t help anyone.”

Hordak knew she was right. But he still felt like he deserved it.

Hordak remained in bed for the rest of the journey.

Entrapta brought Rogelio in to check on him and disinfect his wounds. But he requested that they not tell anyone what happened. He didn’t want to create further animosity between the ex-horde soldiers and the crew.

By the time Beast Island was in sight he felt good enough to walk steadily, and his black eyes were easily covered up by his usual heavy eyeshadow.

There was only one place on Beast Island that was safely approachable by ship, a small cove where the usually steep, sharp cliffs gave way to a gradual beach of rocks and gravel.

“Entrapta…” Hordak peered towards the beach, wondering if there was still some problem with his eyes. “What’s that?”

There appeared to be some kind of large, metal statue on the beach, which, as they grew closer, stood up and started jumping up and down.

“Oh, that's Daphne!” Entrapta said cheerfully, waving excitedly at the massive automaton. “I started sending a homing signal as soon as we were in range so she’d be ready for us!”

“Did you… build her?” Hordak asked slowly. He had great faith in Entrapta’s abilities. But to have constructed such a beast alone, with no tools or workshop, seemed ridiculous.

“I managed to salvage most of her parts, it was just a matter of putting them together and making them work properly.” Entrapta spoke casually, like it was no big deal at all. “I found a sort of mech graveyard on the west side of the island, I can’t wait to show it to you!”

“You are utterly… Impossible.” Hordak said quietly, shaking his head.

Entrapta had said it would take a while for them to start to hear the signal.

But Hordak heard it as soon as the ship dropped anchor in the small cove.

He had been hearing it all his life.

The thin, droning note that connected him to the hivemind.

The sinking feeling of helpless numbness was the same as Primes' touch when he took control of his body.

Hordak barely noticed them disembarking.

Standing silently on the beach as everyone unloaded their supplies.

It didn’t take long with Daphne's assistance. The stout, chunky mech looked like it could probably pick up the whole ship and carry it off.

“Hordak?” Entraptas voice brought him back, steadying him. “Are you ready?”

He looked around at their small band. Most of them looked terrified. Even Lonnie was showing signs of reconsidering her former bravado.

“Alright!” Hordak bellowed, clasping his hands behind his back. “Our first priority is establishing a base. Entrapta and I will be heading into the Island to shut down the signal, we will be relying on you to get things started.”

Hordak tried to remember to make eye contact as he spoke, attempting to not just lecture to them. “Remember, this is a collaborative effort, there is no hierarchy and I am not your commander, I ask you to only treat me with the respect that the rest of your colleges deserve.”

There were a few nods, but they still seemed uncertain, standing there quietly.

“Any questions?” Hordak added, hoping to prompt them to action.

Octavia raised her hand slowly.

“Yes Fo-, Yes Octavia?”

“So… What do we do first?”

Hordak sighed. Just turning them loose without direction was probably too much to ask.

“Alright!” Hordak snapped in his best drill sergeant boom. “Octavia, take the two wastelanders. You are team Alpha. Unpack the signal emitters and set them up in a fifty meter radius from the landing site, there are written instructions in the box.”

“Lonnie, your squad is team Beta, use the flamethrowers and work out in a semicircle, eradicating all organic matter to the emitter line.” He scowled at Kyle. “And be _Careful!_ ”

“Grizzlor, you, Trako and Alice are team Gamma, assemble the weapons and stand guard over the other teams.”

“Lowtail, Pmal, Bo. Team Delta, clear any remaining debris and begin setting up the tents.”

Hordak took a deep breath and gave a salute. “Remember, we are all counting on each other. This land may be dangerous, but together we have nothing to fear!”

“Yes sir!” they shouted back, splitting up and rushing to get to work.

“Was that too dictatorial?” Hordak sighed quietly to Entrapta.

“Delegation is important.” Entrapta patted his arm reassuringly. “We can work on building independence once everyone is safer.”

Hordak nodded, but he still felt a bit uncomfortable slipping into his old role so much.

“Anyway! We’ve got a signal to shut down!” Entrapta shouted gleefully, using her hair to flip herself up into Daphne’s cockpit. “Jump in! I can’t wait to show you what she can do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole concept for this fic was just 'Entrapta and Hordak go do community service on Beast Island' and I can't believe it's taken me over 12000 words for them just to set foot there.
> 
> I thank anyone reading this for your patience :D <3


	8. Foundations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak and Entrapta take a trip to the heart of Beast Island.
> 
> And a very repressed SpaceBat has some very uncomfortable conversations.

Hordak had mixed feelings about ‘Daphne’.

She was, of course, a marvel of engineering.

He almost felt a little scared of Entrapta as she barreled through the thick vegetation, casually tossing aside the massive beasts that leapt out at her, shrugging off a pack of Pooka like a gentle rain.

And all the while keeping up a verbal log on her recorder, pointing out interesting plants and animals to him as though they were taking a walk in the park.

The cockpit however, left much to be desired.

While being squashed on the floor between Entrapta’s legs was not an entirely unpleasant position to be in, it was rather undignified.

And the constant bumps and crashes as Daphne galloped along sent fresh pangs of pain through his bruised body.

Hordak was very relieved when they finally came to rest, clambering out of the cockpit to stretch his cramping muscles.

However his relief was short-lived.

The signal was louder that before, so overwhelming he almost couldn’t hear Entrapta speaking.

“This is what seems to be the central temple, the entrance is just past that giant throne.” Entrapta was saying as she walked ahead.

“Do you think First Ones got that big? Adora and Mara seem normal sized, but perhaps they continue to grow with age!” She pushed through the vines, pulling aside a curtain of leaves to reveal a long, artificial passage.

Hordak followed her slowly, his feet dragging, struggling to stay focused.

“But if they were big enough for the chair then they’d be too big for the entrance.” Entrapta continued talking, leading Hordak deeper inside the temple, oblivious to his current condition.

_Failure_

Hordak shook his head. The signal grew even louder as they entered a large chamber with a structure in the middle that almost resembled the Princesses runestones.

He felt like he was starting to discern words in the droning hum that now echoed painfully inside his head.

_Failure_

“This seems to be the Islands mainframe.” Entrapta rushed up to the console, activating it immediately. “I think I can disable the signal with a full system shutdown.”

_FAILURE!_

Prime’s voice boomed in Hordaks head. Or was it his own voice?”

“There’s just so much information here though!” Entrapta whined, wiggling her whole body gleefully. “I’ve been hypothesizing that the First Ones started dumping here to try and hide this place, it’s basically a backdoor into the planet's operating system!” Her voice was muffled, distant.

_”You couldn’t even die properly.”_

Hordak fell to his knees, clutching at his chest. The voice was clearer now, becoming more real than his surroundings.

He felt a touch on his face. A hand tilting his head up to see Prime looking down on him with pity.

“That was all you had to do.” Prime sighed. “Fall in battle, and be honoured for your sacrifice.”

“No.” Hordak gasped, unable to breathe. “You aren’t real!”

_”I just want to have a quick look at this subdirectory…” Entrapta’s voice faded to a whisper, sinking down below the ever present droning._

“But instead you ran, ran to some backwater little planet, where you were welcomed!” Prime laughed bitterly. “Such a pathetic, pitiable creature… You wormed your way into their breast, gaining their trust.”

Hordak tried to stand but his body felt like lead, pulling him down into a pose of supplication.

“And then you betrayed them! Stole their lands… Stole their children.” Prime placed his foot on Hordaks head, pressing him into the ground.

“And you thought yourself a general?” Prime laughed. “A drone dreaming of greatness.”

Hordak felt like a bug in Prime’s palm, a gigantic hand squeezing tight, crushing him.

“And now you’ve found another to deceive.” Prime's voice was soft now, whispering in his ear. “Latching onto her like the parasite you are… You’ve already failed her once, how long will it be before you betray her again?”

“NO!" Hordak screamed, expelling the last gasps of air in his constricted lungs as a roar of pain and anger.

The image of Prime flickered, his eyes turning red, changing into a mirror image of himself. “You cannot lie to yourself, little brother. I see your soul. And it is dark and barren.”

Hordak felt the pressure in his head start to lift slightly, and the pressure binding his body began to slip.

“That’s not me! You aren’t me!” Hordak howled, thrashing wildly, dimly feeling his arm connect with something.

_”OW! Hordak! Please! Just come back!”_

Entrapta’s voice echoed to him from far away and he reached out towards it, trying to swim through the darkness.

He felt something grip him, not the crushing, painful grip of Prime, but something soft, comforting.

“I will always be with you, _little brother...”_

“It’s okay, Hordak, it’s okay, you’re safe.” Entrapta was holding him, rubbing his back and speaking soothingly.

“I… Prime! He… I was-” Hordak gasped, his head spinning, trying to patch together what was real.

The sound had stopped, but he still felt it lingering, like an itch inside his skull.

He looked up at Entrapta, another wave of anxiety hitting him as he saw the bruise on her face.

“I struck you…” His hearts were beating so hard it felt like someone was punching the inside of his chest, his breathing shaky and desperate.

“It was an accident.” Entrapta loosened her grip, trying to give him space to breathe, still rubbing his back softly. “It’s okay… I should have shut the system down sooner.” She looked down, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I didn’t notice how it was affecting you.”

She bit down on her gloved hand, rocking back and forth jerkily. “Thoughtless. So stupid. Stupid...”

“No… I should have said something.” Hordak took her hand, gently pulling it away from her and squeezing it tight.

Entrapta squeezed back so tight Hordak was worried she might break his fingers. “It’s still my fault.”

“We can consider it a mutual failure of communication.” Hordak found it easier to focus on reassuring Entrapta than his own emotional state. “Thus the blame cancels out, leaving neither of us at fault.” He smiled, pushing aside the feelings.

“I’m not sure that checks out…” Entrapta said slowly, still rocking, but less violently. “Mathematically.”

“Well, you can check my work back at the base.” Hordak scooped Entrapta up into his arms. Savouring the chance to be the once carrying her around for once. “Hopefully Kyle has not set anyone on fire yet.”

Entrapta rested her head on Hordak's chest, wrapping her hair around both of them.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

Hordak stroked her cheek gently, avoiding the small bruise. He didn’t want to hurt her. Didn’t want to betray her. “So am I.”

They took a few minutes to collect themselves before climbing back into Daphne’s cockpit and making the journey back to what was to become their home.

Entrapta quickly forgot her distress while piloting her mech. But Hordak was stewing in the things Prime had…That he had said to himself.

Was it all the signal? Or was it something still buried deep within him.

Things were pleasantly calm when they returned.

No one was on fire and enough area had been cleared for a few tents to be set up.

Hordak noted this with satisfaction and started unpacking some of their equipment, setting it up in the largest tent.

Entrapta meanwhile busied herself with performing some maintenance on Daphne.

The mech was in remarkably good condition considering circumstances, but had acquired a lot of superficial wear and tear during her time alone.

Hordak observed their squad as he worked. Only needing to step in a few times, once to reposition some tents and again to stop Lowtail from picking up a chunk of glowing green metal without protective gear.

Once the other teams completed their tasks, they joined team Delta without needing to ask, quickly setting up the rest of the base without trouble.

Though there was some mild bickering over the placement and ownership of the ‘residential’ tents, Hordak considered their performance excellent.

He still felt that his assignments had been a little rushed and arbitrary, so in the spirit of democracy he set up a small questionnaire for everyone to complete on their tablets, reviewing their situation.

Allocating some time after their evening meal, Hordak then set up individual appointments with everyone so that they could discuss things with him.

Octavia was the first on the list and Hordak was surprised to see her looking rather flustered as she entered his tent.

Octavia had always been a particularly stoic individual, not even missing a beat when a young Catra had clawed her eye out, so he was eager to learn what was troubling her.

“Phew, okay.” Octavia sighed as she sat down. “This is a bit tough for me.”

“Would you like to consume liquids?” Hordak offered her a flask of water.

Mama Bear’s Big Book of Manners had said that offering a guest a drink was an important part of polite interaction.

Unfortunately he didn’t have any tea or juice, but he hoped water would suffice.

Octavia took the flask quickly, almost draining it in a single slug before appearing disappointed as she realised it was only water.

“Right, so, those two… _Wastelanders_ , they’re undisciplined, crude, they have NO concept of personal space…”

Hordak nodded quietly, a polite way to indicate his attentiveness.

He had expected those two to be trouble, but he had hoped that Octavia could keep them in line.

“But they’ve just got this… rakish charm,” Octavia blushed a little, leaning back in her seat. “Sizzle’s got those _arms_ that just…” She fanned herself with her hand. “And Capra’s tough, but in this kind of vulnerable way… And her little goatee is so cute!”

“Hmmmm… Very well.” Hordak cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably. “So you are content with the situation?”

“Well, I don’t know if I could settle down.” Octavia twirled her hair with one of her tentacles. “I’ve never really thought about it before… And who would I choose?” Her cheeks flushed a little brighter, a mischievous look on her face. “Or even-”

“Wonderful!” Hordak said loudly, standing up and gesturing towards the exit. “Your feedback has been noted. I thank you for your time.”

“Oh, yep?” Octavia hopped up, giving Hordak an awkward half-bow half-salute. “Is that all?”

Hordak nodded quickly, forcing a wide smile that looked more like a grimace of pain.

He sat down heavily once Octavia was gone, more than a little confused.

Perhaps the signal had had some odd effect on her? He made a note to give her a full medical check up later.

Lonnie was the next appointment, seeming her usual confident self.

“Liquid?” Hordak asked as she sat down. “Octavia already drank most of it…”

“No thanks.” Lonnie looked at the flask suspiciously. “Okay so, I’m the team leader right? So I’m the boss of them?”

“Consider yourself a coordinator. You have additional responsibilities, not additional power.” Hordak said, relieved by the normal question.

“Urgh, lame.” Lonnie shrugged. “Well, we’re obviously compatible, we’ve been together since we were boots, and we’ve been ‘together’ for a couple of years now.” Lonnie made air quotes with her fingers, giving Hordak a wink.

Hordak felt his stomach drop.

“As for frequency? Well, I don’t want to brag.” Lonnie leant back, examining her fingernails idly. “How are you counting? If you do it multiple times in one session, then is that-”

“Moving on!” Hordak’s voice was slightly strangled.

He grabbed the flask, taking a drink to try and clear his throat. His face wrinkling at the unpleasant aftertaste of squid.

“Okay, sure.” Lonnie glanced down at her tablet. “So, kids? To be honest, I’d kinda like to have kids one day. Having Imp around all the time was tough, but it was also pretty special…” Lonnie sighed, grinning at Hordak. “But I mean, what are you gonna do? Three of us, and not a uterus between us!” Lonnie laughed as Hordak sunk further down into his seat.

“Thank you, Lonnie.” Hordak groaned. The pain in his head had returned rather severely. “That should be enough for now.”

“Oh wait, I just wanted to ask, how come Octavia gets to be Alpha and we have to be Beta? Can I apply for a name change, or…?”

Hordak hurried Lonnie out of the tent, calling out to Grizzlor to wait a few minutes.

“Entrapta!” Hordak called out, sneaking around to the main tent that had become their lab. “Entrapta, I require some assistance!”

Entrapta was elbow deep in a box of parts, her hair assembling some of their instruments at the same time.

“What seems to be the problem?” She glanced over at him, still half focused on her work.

“I am attempting to conduct the reviews and they have been bringing up some rather...” Hordak struggled to find the polite word. “Intimate topics… I am concerned the signal has affected their brains or perhaps their hormone levels.”

“Ohhhhh,” Entrapta gave a short laugh, turning back to the box she was digging though. “I added some questions about sexual compatibility to the questionnaire!”

Hordak felt a muscle in his face twitch.

“If we are going to be here long term,” Entrapta continued. “We’re going to need a self replacing workforce! So it’s important for them to start reproducing as soon as possible!”

Hordak took a deep breath and pulled out his tablet, sending a message to all the team members.

_[Review Appointments are canceled immediately. If you require a transfer please organise it with your team Coordinators. -Hordak]_

He really needed to get some sleep.

Hordak trudged off towards his tent, taking a circuitous route to try and avoid any unnecessary interactions.

“I like the new Hordak!” Imp chirped loudly, gliding over to perch on Hordak's shoulder.

“Thank you, Imp.” Hordak sighed softly, scratching Imp's chin. He couldn’t place the voice exactly, but it made him feel better. “I needed that.”

“Do you think Lowtail’s a top?!” Imp ‘said’ even more loudly, a look of smug pride on his face.

“That is inappropriate language!” Hordak spluttered. “You should not be listening to that!”

Imp just let out a burst of recorded laughter, seemingly delighted by Hordak's reaction.

Hordak groaned, rubbing his temples.

Perhaps attempting to create a more ‘casual’ atmosphere had been a mistake.

He missed being able to exile people.

But then again, where would he send them now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translator's Note: 'Boot' is military slang for a trainee that has not yet been deployed.  
> When Lonnie calls them 'Boots' she is referring to their early training in the Horde.
> 
> More angst? I'm sorry, the fluff is coming I promise!
> 
> At least I can cap off Hordak suffering with some light-hearted Hordak suffering!


	9. Domesticated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak cooks a meal, assembles some machinery and gets in a bit of a tizzy.

Most of the camp did not sleep well that night.

While the invisible ‘fence’ seemed to be holding strong, the howls and screams of various monsters beyond the treeline did not make for peaceful rest.

Hordak and Entrapta had intended to have separate quarters. But halfway through the night Entrapta snuck into his tent and slipped into bed, curling up next to him.

She had been woken by the noises and for a moment, she was alone again, abandoned on the island by those she thought were her friends.

She had made light of her experience. Dismissing it as merely a chance for research and investigation.

But it had hurt her deeply.

She had never had a problem with being alone before, she preferred it in fact.

But to be abandoned in that cruel, dark place was a new kind of alone.

When Hordak didn’t come for her, she almost managed to convince herself that the outside world no longer existed. It seemed more likely than him forgetting about her. 

She wanted him close now, to be there when she woke up.

To remind her that she wasn’t alone any more.

Hordak woke early. The thin note of their false signal had made its way into his dreams, conjuring images of Prime and sins long past.

He moved as little as possible so as not to wake Entrapta, who was still sleeping with her head on his chest. He quietly asked Imp to hand him Entrapta’s tablet.

Looking over her list of their planned objectives, he noted that food and fresh water were rather low on the list of priorities.

He understood, he was often guilty of forgetting his own biological needs, but it was different when dealing with…

Well, they weren’t soldiers anymore. Hordak briefly wondered what he should call his new companions... Volunteers? Convicts?

Names were important. Hordak's first tiny step towards independence had been to give himself a name, after all.

But whatever they were called, if workers did not eat and drink they would get weak. Morale would drop and work would suffer.

Etherians, unlike machines, had many varied needs to be managed in order to keep them physically and emotionally healthy.

In his time leading the Horde he had tried many times to find the absolute minimum required to meet these needs, but sadly there were some corners which could not be cut.

And counter-intuitively, attempting to put restrictions in place sometimes made things even worse.

When he attempted to ban fraternization between Horde soldiers, instances of people sneaking away from their posts to conduct illicit liaisons skyrocketed.

After walking into a storeroom where a couple were having a romantic rendezvous Hordak had dropped the restrictions, and the problem vanished.

They were strange creatures; so contradictory and emotional.

Entrapta had seemed to be an exception, at first. Though Hordak had come to believe that underestimating any Etherian was a mistake.

For all their flaws, they were unleashed upon Prime barely a year before they managed to shatter his empire.

Which seemed enough to disprove the notion that they were inferior life forms.

Hordak allowed himself some small satisfaction in the knowledge that he had lasted far longer against them than Prime had.

Entrapta woke up slowly, wiggling and stretching out in a manner so adorable it entirely removed Hordak's capacity for rational thought.

“Good~ Morning,” she yawned.

“Hrmmm,” Hordak nodded.

“I’m sorry if I woke you up last night.” Entrapta smiled up at Hordak apologetically.

Hordak shook his head, aware that anything he attempted to say would be completely incoherent.

“I think I would sleep better here, on a more permanent basis.” Entrapta spoke quite pragmatically, but her ponytails were fidgeting with themselves nervously. “Would that be acceptable?”

Hordak took a deep breath, attempting to somehow reboot his brain. “Sharing a sleeping area has certain connotations in Etherian relationships, does it not?”

Entrapta’s cheeks flushed a little, her hair almost tying itself in a knot. “Well, yes-”

“I will have your pallet moved next to mine.” Hordak replied, attempting to look very interested in the tablet.

Entrapta was silent for a moment, smiling at him softly, before leaning forwards to plant a quick kiss on his cheek, hopping out of bed and pulling on her overalls.

Hordak continued staring at the tablet. Not reading a single word. His ears sticking straight upright like little horns.

“I’m going to take Daphne to the mech graveyard to look for scrap, you should come with me! It’s fascinating to see all the different models of equipment, like an evolutionary record of tech.” Entrapta’s hair reached out and took back her tablet. 

She let out a little giggle as it took Hordak a few moments to stop pretending to read it.

“I would enjoy that.” Hordak sighed. “But I need to set up the desalinator. And you should eat first.”

As he spoke, Hordak realised he had forgot to make anyone responsible for meal preparation. He would need to set up a duty roster for such mundane tasks, but for today it seemed it would be up to him.

Cooking wasn’t so hard, Hordak decided. It was just like performing a chemical reaction. Simply mixing the required ingredients together in appropriate quantities.

Cured meat for fat and protein, some vegetables of some sort for the fibre, grains for carbohydrates and a bit of fruit for vitamins.

He wasn’t completely sure of an appropriate source of minerals so he added some nice-looking rocks to the pot.

Hordak regarded his concoction with pride, bringing it to a gentle simmer for a little while before sending Imp off to fly around and wake everyone.

They all filtered out of their tents slowly, a few of them drowsily moving into drill formation before realising that Hordak was waiting for them by the mess tables.

Hordak noted that the wastelanders seemed obnoxiously well rested, chatting with each other loudly.

Hordak collected the pot, now filled with a lumpy, sticky mass, and walked along proudly, filling their bowls.

It felt rather nice to nurture them in such a direct way, seeing the happy wide eyed look on their faces as they regarded their ‘breakfast’.

“Thanks, dad- ah- Hordad” Kyle mumbled as Hordak served him his portion, a look of horror on his face.

“You’re so lucky I’m too tired to unpack that right now.” Lonnie groaned, sticking a spoon into the rapidly congealing mess.

The spoon did not move.

Hordak returned the pot to the stove. They would doubtless want seconds so he needed to keep it warm.

“Eat up!” Hordak addressed the group. “We have a lot of work ahead of us. I will send today's assignments to your team coordinators, but remember, I am open to all suggestions and criticism.” He gave them all his best smile, trying to show as many teeth as possible.

“Don’t worry,” he added, noticing that nobody seemed to be eating. “Eat as much as you like, there are plenty of seconds.”

Hordak was pleased to see them start eating slowly, obviously savouring his nutritionally complete masterpiece.

The wide range of facial expressions they were displaying was clear proof of his natural talent.

Hordak took a seat near Entrapta. He had put aside a small portion of meat and fruit for himself, as they were the solid foods that most agreed with him.

“How was the meal?” He asked Entrapta, she had already finished hers as Hordak had served it in the smallest bowl they had.

“It’s disg-!” 

Lonnie cut Entrapta off, shoving a spoon in her mouth. “It’s great! Thanks, Hordak. It was really… Nice of you.”

She kicked Kyle and Rogelio under the table, prompting them to smile and agree.

“Almost as good as ration bars,” Kyle said weakly.

Hordak puffed out his chest slightly, his ears perking up. “Perhaps I should do it more regularly.”

“NO!” Grizzlor shouted, quickly clearing his throat. “I mean, you have far more important things to do, we can take care of such menial tasks.”

There was a quick round of agreement from the table.

“You are probably right.” Hordak nodded at Grizzlor. “It was nice to try for a change though. I had never considered eating as anything more than an unfortunate necessity, but I understand now that sharing a meal with one's comrades can be an enjoyable experience.”

Hordak was a little disappointed that no one stayed for seconds, but Lonnie explained to him that their morale had been boosted so much that they were just eager to get to work.

While he prepared to work on the desalinator he sent teams Alpha and Delta out to conduct a quick survey of the immediate area and teams Beta and Gamma to dig a farm plot for the production of food.

Assembling the equipment was mostly a matter of just putting all the pieces together, but it was an enjoyable sort of tedium, almost meditative. Requiring no more mental effort than a large jigsaw puzzle.

It took most of the day, but Hordak was satisfied with the result. All the components were working perfectly, despite a few dents acquired in transport.

They would need to construct a tank or reservoir of some sort to store the water, but at least they had a renewable source now.

Hordak wasn’t sure if salt water could be used for farming; all of the Horde’s agricultural outposts had been inland, but if it wasn’t they might need multiple reservoirs.

Thankfully, Entrapta returned with an ample supply of scrap metal, and some First Ones power cells. She had already set about organising her finds, so Hordak decided to check on the other teams progress.

Teams Beta and Gamma had clearly been hard at work. Some of them were resting in the shade, still glistening with sweat, as the others continued digging the large pit they had excavated near the edge of the campsite.

“What. Is. That?!” Hordak growled, staring at them in disbelief.

“A Farm? ... Sir?” Grizzlor looked up from the bottom of the pit nervously. “We weren’t sure how deep it had to be.”

“It is supposed to be flat! And wide!.. This is three meters deep!” Hordak tried to calm himself, taking a few deep breaths. “You know what a farm looks like!”

They all glanced at each other awkwardly.

“Actually…” Lonnie stepped forwards. “None of us have ever seen a farm before. No one's been on Ag duty.”

“I thought you just dug a hole and put the seeds in,” Grizzlor added.

“That's it! Just, not so deep!” Hordak groaned. “You just, scrape a bit off the top.”

“Is that all?” Grizzlor scratched his head.

“Ah… Well,” Hordak realised he might not know as much about farming as he thought he did. “Water is added. At some point.”

“I think the type of soil is important too,” Kyle piped up uncertainly. “What kind of seeds do we have?”

Hordak froze. They were supposed to bring seeds?? “You can’t just… gather them?”

There was silence.

“Alright!” Hordak hoped his sudden anxiety was not discernable. “Excellent work on the hole! We can use it for... something. Take a break and I will acquire more information.”

He turned and walked away calmly for a few steps before sprinting off to find Entrapta.

The Agricultural Outposts had always functioned fairly smoothly. He had simply authorised any requests, never seeing a need to examine them closely.

It had seemed like a simple process. After all, plants just grew everywhere by themselves. How hard could it be?

“ENTRAPTA!” Hordak shouted, gasping for breath as he dashed into their lab.

“HORDAK!” Entrapta shouted back excitedly. She had been in the middle of dismantling one of the power cells. “WHY ARE WE SHOUTING?!”

“FARMING!” Hordak took a breath, lowering his voice. “Farming, do you have knowledge of the process?”

“Of course!” Entrapta smiled. “You dig a hole and put seeds in it, then they grow.”

“Anything more than that?” Hordak asked hopefully.

“Nope!” Entrapta turned back to the power cell, her hair wielding numerous tools. “I mean, I’m aware that various factors affect plant growth. Water, Nitrogen levels, soil pH and such. But it was never an interest. My cooks just brought me food, I don’t know where they got it from.”

Hordak’s ears drooped. “Well, what did you eat when you were here… last time.”

“I just stole Micah's food.”

Hordak made a sort of strangled whine, massaging his temples furiously. “Well, that at least indicates there are some edible flora and fauna on the Island. Perhaps we can get by with hunting and foraging… Of course, that will take considerably more time and manpower, and we don't have enough weapons or armor to send anyone out far.”

“Oooohh!” Entrapta bounced over to his side excitedly. “I’ve got some ideas for that! There weren’t enough parts to build another mech like Daphne, but I could make something similar to your armor that should drastically increase the wearer's chance of survival!”

“That sounds excellent.” Hordak took Entrapta's hands, wishing he could be more enthusiastic, but he was still panicking about their impending starvation. “You are a genius. I need to go find Octavia and Lowtail.” He thought for a moment before bending down and carefully kissing her on the cheek.

He still wasn’t sure exactly how he was supposed to move his lips, but she seemed happy.

Hordak spent his time waiting for teams Alpha and Gamma to return from their survey furiously pacing back and forth by the fence line, resisting the urge to smash something.

Their resources were already limited enough, no matter how much he _really_ wanted to break something.

“Hordak!” Octavia called out to him as they emerged from the treeline.

They all looked a bit tired and sweaty, but unharmed aside from a few scrapes and bruises.

“We found a lot of-”

Hordak sprinted up to the group. “Do any of you know how to grow food?” He blurted out, far more desperately than he had intended.

“Pfffft, No!” Capra laughed, Sizzle snorting along with her. “We know how to hunt though.”

Hordak looked over at Lowtail and her group pleadingly.

Lowtail shook her head slowly.

“I did a rotation in waste disposal?” Pmal said hopefully. “I think we made compost.”

Hordak's last hope was shattered.

It seemed they were to be…

Hordak shuddered at the thought, feeling like he might faint.

Hunter-gatherers.

“Primitives…” Hordak whimpered softly. “We may as well find a cave to live in.”

“Are you okay, sir?” Octavia asked, looking worried.

“My intellect has soared upon wings of Hubris.” Hordak threw back his head dramatically. “Reaching for the stars without comprehending the basic building blocks of civilisation.”

Lowtail patted him on the back awkwardly, giving a reassuring growl.

“D’ ya wanna hear about the stuff we found?” Bo asked. “We didn’t touch nothing, jus’ like ya said.”

Bo was a woody, plant-like creature and Horak wondered briefly if he had seeds that could be harvested. Or if he was edible.

“A report would be a welcome distraction from my continued failure,” Hordak growled, turning and striding off towards his tent.

The teams exchanged a few odd looks.

“So, was he always this… Extra?” Capra asked Octavia.

“Lord Hordak is a great man.” Octavia bridled. “But… Yes. He’s been more talkative though, he used to just shout and threaten horrible torture.”

“Get! OUT!” Lowtail snarled in an excellent imitation of Hordak, making the other ex-Horde members snicker.

“I guess we know where Catra got it from now,” Capra said to Sizzle.

“It’s kind of nice how much he cares,” Octavia added. “He acts all tough but he gets really upset when he makes mistakes.”

Dinner that evening turned out to be an enjoyable experience for everyone.

As Grizzlor’s team didn’t have anything to do after Hordak told them to stop digging, they put extra effort into preparing a nice meal to help everyone recover from ‘breakfast’.

They even cut Hordak's fruit portion into fun shapes to try cheering him up.

Hordak was still sulking when Entrapta came to join him, handing him her tablet.

“What is this?” Hordak asked her, looking at the odd list that was displayed.

“Well, as we are no longer ‘The Horde’, I thought it was important that we should have a new name!” Entrapta said brightly. “To help everyone feel like a team! Everyone submitted suggestions and we thought you could pick one.”

Hordak sighed heavily. He had already been considering this, but the day's events had put it out of his head.

“Once again, I fall behind,” Hordak groaned, feeling a little jealous that Entrapta had taken the initiative before him. “I suppose I’ll consider it.”

Team Alpha had suggested ‘The Brawl Bats’. Doubtless the work of those Wasteland scoundrels.

Team Beta had submitted ‘Beast Island Terraforming and Cooperative Habitation Squad’ which Hordak thought was remarkably sensible and an excellent choice, until he considered the acronym.

Team Gamma’s choice was simple; ‘Islanders’, more implying a group of people inhabiting the area, rather than an organisation.

Team Delta’s suggestion was ‘Beastars’. Hordak didn’t even know how he was supposed to pronounce that one.

“‘Islanders’ seems to be the least terrible.” Hordak grumbled.

He quite liked it actually. It sounded peaceful, and a recognition of their new home.

“Excellent!” Entrapta cheered, jumping up on the table. “We are, Islanders!”

Grizzlor and his team mates cheered wildly, thumping their fists on the table.

There were a few good-natured boos, but everyone seemed happy.

Except for Capra. “I already drew the logo," she said grumpily.

“I thought it was cool.” Octavia gave Capra a smile as Sizzle patted her on the back.

Hordak found it difficult to maintain his bad mood as the evening wore on.

Everyone seemed so cheerful and relaxed, chatting happily.

Grizzlor was repeatedly explaining the deep and meaningful reasoning behind his winning choice to anyone who would listen.

Lowtail was talking about the strange machinery they had found with unusual enthusiasm.

And Octavia and the Wastelanders were talking up the minor encounter they had with a slug-like creature into a mighty battle.

It was a new experience for Hordak, to be amid such a gathering.

Despite the clamour making it difficult to focus on anything clearly, the energy was somehow infectious.

Pushing aside his bottled up anxiety, with a wave of hope and good cheer.

He tried his best to stay aloof, keeping to the edge of the conversations.

He felt like the magic would be somehow ruined if anyone remembered that he was there.

But they managed to drag him in eventually. Kyle of all people, pulling him into a conversation about the powersource he was using for the desalinator.

And nothing happened. The sky did not fall. They simply accepted him as one of them.

He even tried to tell a few jokes. They were atrocious, but people laughed anyway.

He didn’t notice that his eyes had changed to a soft, sky blue until he saw Entrapta staring at him and taking notes furiously.

“How would you describe your current mental state?” She asked, shoving her recorder in his face. “What emotions are you feeling right now?”

“Annoyed.” Hordak replied, quickly focusing on changing his eyes back to red. His ears still tratoriously perky. “It’s far too loud.”

Entrapta narrowed her eyes at him. “That seems inaccurate. Though it is loud, I have earplugs if you need them!”

He really was terrible at deception, especially with Entrapta.

“Fine.” He grumbled, lowering his voice. “It’s… nice. I feel quite comfortable and… Welcome?” Hordak struggled to identify the feeling. “As though, it’s alright that I am here.”

“I believe that is called a ‘sense of belonging’,” Entrapta said, taking notes. “It’s something I struggled with before we started working together.”

Hordak's ears blushed a little at her implication. He had always felt that way with Entrapta; their partnership seemed so natural that he never questioned it.

There was no need for justifications or explanations. It simply was.

“Have you finished eating?” He asked. “I would love to hear more about your armor concept. I apologise for rushing out so quickly earlier.”

“I’ll show you the blueprints!” Entrapta gushed excitedly, clearly eager to discuss it.

She grabbed his hand and dragged him off towards the lab.

Hordak heard a couple of loud whistles from Lonnie as they rushed off, but it didn’t bother him.

While he did appreciate a certain level of discretion, there was no need to hide or misrepresent their relationship. He was proud to stand at her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> However bad he is at it, Lonnie is trying to encourage Hordak when he tries to be nice.
> 
> Also, there might be some smut coming up, depends on how I feel.  
> If I do, I'll put it as its own piece with a link so anyone who's not interested can skip over.
> 
> Edit: Welp, here is is! <3 [NSFW 18+ Here there be Monsters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24768913).


	10. Fist of Etheria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta and Hordak bring their newest creation to life!
> 
> Unfortunately it is not yet completely Kyle-proof

Hordak and Entrapta barely left their lab for the next few days. Working (almost) tirelessly on Entrapta’s new project.

While it was based on the same concept as the exoskeletons she developed for Hordak, the scope was completely different.

Hordak was amazed by the ambitiousness of her designs. If it worked, it would be the most powerful weapon she had ever created.

And not just a weapon, but a life-support system and defence mechanism all at once.

It relied heavily on First Ones tech, using various different artifacts and components she had salvaged from her trips to the graveyard of junk.

Some of the pieces would be difficult to replicate, but once they perfected the prototype it might be possible for them to outfit all the Islanders in this new armor, giving them more than a fighting chance against Beast Island and its native denizens.

Meanwhile the rest of the Islanders were working hard around the camp, using the scrap they had salvaged to build some more permanent structures. Including water tanks and a proper wall.

Rumors of their new project had circled quickly and the excitement was palpable.

Hordak and Entrapta had to temporarily ban anyone else from the lab as people kept making up excuses to ‘pop in’ and try to get a look, constantly interrupting their work, which quickly became frustrating to both of them.

They were both exhausted, mentally and physically, by the time they were ready for testing.

They powered up the fuel cells, Entrapta doing one last bug sweep on the software while Hordak ran diagnostics on the physical components.

The system was incredibly complex; Entrapta had combined First Ones, Etherian and Horde technology in ways that Hordak hadn’t believed possible.

As no one else had the ports that Hordak used to connect to his armor, Entrapta had cannibalised one of Horde Prime's chips, turning it into a full spinal interface.

Apparently she had managed to ‘borrow’ a rather large amount of Horde Prime’s tech while she was with Adora, hiding it away and eventually bringing it here with her.

It made Hordak a little nervous to see that technology being used, but he trusted Entrapta to have completely purged any remnants of its old programming.

Once they were finally satisfied that nothing was going to explode or catch fire, they sent Imp out to get Kyle.

Kyle and his partners arrived almost immediately, looking slightly out of breath as they dashed eagerly into the lab.

“Here! Reporting!” Kyle panted, struggling to catch his breath. “Imp told me to come but I figured you meant all of us?”

“We require only you for this.” Hordak said. “Though the others can watch, I suppose. Entrapta and I have chosen you to run the first tests on our new augmented infantry system.”

“I’m calling it the Fist of Etheria! Or Foe for short!” Entrapta piped up.

Kyle’s eyes went wide as he saw the armor hanging from its mechanical armature.

It was similar in design to the old Horde armor, but much bulkier, covering the entire body and with the emblem of Dryl emblazoned on the chestplate.

“Thankyou!” Kyle squealed, dashing up to the armor and dancing around it, examining it closely. “I mean, I’m honoured!”

Entrapta hit a button, causing the armor to open up and moving to help Kyle in.

“We figured if you can get it to work, then anyone can!” Entrapta said, clearly just as excited as he was. “You have a good underlying knowledge of mechanics though, so that might help a bit.”

“Thank- Wait, what?” Kyle frowned as Entrapta pushed him into the armor, snapping it closed around him.

“Focus on the positives, babe!” Lonnie called out, giving him a thumbs up. Rogelio smothered a giggle.

Kyle let out a loud squeak as the armor sealed, letting off a cloud of steam.

“Don’t worry!” Entrapta said quickly. “That’s just the armor connecting to your nervous system! You may feel a slight pinch… I probably should have said that first.”

“It’s okay, I’m good!” Kyle whimpered, twitching slightly.

“This is safe, right?” Lonnie asked Entrapta, starting to look worried.

“Theoretically.” Entrapta shrugged. “This is our first proper test.”

Hordak moved to Kyle’s side, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

“It may feel uncomfortable at first.” He said quietly. “Your body is experiencing new inputs that your brain needs to process, if you feel nauseous, dizzy or begin experiencing phantom pain, inform us immediately and we will halt the test.”

Kyle took a few deep breaths, swaying a little before appearing to regain his balance. “No, I think it’s okay, really.” He turned to Lonnie and Rogelio, slowly giving them a thumbs up, his gauntleted hand moving slightly jerkily. “It feels a little like that time we ate those weird mushrooms from the sewers!”

“That should pass,” Hordak said. “Hopefully.”

Entrapta began to list the suit's many functions and capabilities as Kyle moved around experimentally, stumbling slightly as he got used to the armor.

“It’s weird,” Kyle said. “It feels like it doesn’t weigh anything at all! If anything I feel lighter.”

“Pay attention!” Entrapta snapped her fingers in front of the helmet's cameras. “Like I said, the armor carries its own weight and uses inbuilt servos to greatly enhance your physical capabilities!”

“So I’m like, super strong now?” Kyle asked excitedly.

Entrapta sighed, her hair pointing to a large chunk of scrap metal. “Try lifting that, but lift _slowly_.”

Kyle crouched down and gripped the chunk of metal nervously. “Are you sure? This is way too-” He let out a shocked squeal as he hefted it effortlessly, almost throwing it into the air.

“WOOO!!!” Lonnie and Rogelio cheered loudly.

“This must be what being She-ra feels like!” Kyle shouted, holding up the metal with one hand. “I’m invincible!”

“Actually-” Entrapta started to speak but Lonnie cut her off.

“Pick me up!” She shouted excitedly, leaping into Kyle's arms, making him drop the scrap, almost crushing some of the equipment.

“You really need to-” Entrapta tried again.

“Me too!” Rogelio growled, jumping after Lonnie.

Kyle wobbled slightly but managed to catch them both, holding one in each arm.

“You’re amazing, Entrapta!” Kyle cried out happily. Lifting Lonnie and Rogelio into the air. “This is a dream come true!”

“Very Hot.” Rogelio growled, his tail whipping around happily.

“We’ve got to show everyone!” Kyle said, rushing out of the lab.

“Did he listen to anything I said?” Entrapta sighed. “Maybe the helmet's mics were damaged?”

Hordak placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You did an excellent job. But if you want people to listen to you, you need to be more forceful. Don’t just expect their attention, command it!”

Entrapta smiled up at him. “Well, we did kind of expect this. It could be a good test on how user friendly the interface is.”

“I suppose we should make sure he doesn’t damage the armor. Or himself.” Hordak grumbled. “At least we didn’t enable the weapons systems.”

Hordak and Entrapta headed outside slowly to see the rest of the Islanders gathered around, watching Sizzle furiously punching Kyle in the chest as he posed and flexed.

“Ha hah!” Kyle laughed. “Take your best shot! Kyle-Ra is invincible!”

“The impact compensation system seems to be functioning properly," Entrapta noted.

“So far, at least.” Hordak growled, wishing they could be testing things under more rigorous conditions.

Kyle let out a cry of victory as Sizzle collapsed, exhausted.

He leapt into the air triumphantly, his victory shout transforming into a shriek as booster rockets fired under his feet, sending him shooting upwards.

“Perhaps we should change the activation mechanism for the boosters?” Entrapta remarked, as Kyle began to spin wildly out of control, screaming in terror.

“I thought it was very intuitive.” Hordak regarded Kyle’s wild trajectory carefully. “Perhaps we need a ‘training wheels’ protocol, making more of the systems manually operated until the user is more familiar with it.”

Kyle screamed even louder as the boosters cut out, leaving him to plummet to the ground with a loud crash.

Lonnie and Rogelio immediately rushed to his side, struggling to try and take off the helmet.

“I’m okay,” Kyle groaned weakly. “My innards just feel a little... shuffled.”

Entrapta sighed, about to go over and check on Kyle and the armor when Hordak stopped her.

“Remember: Confidence. You are the expert, command their attention."

Entrapta nodded and put on her best scowl, marching over and boosting herself up with her hair.

“As I was trying to tell you,” She growled in her deepest voice, clasping her hands behind her back. “The Foe system can do little against the force of Gravity, the boosters are there to slow your descent and prevent injuries. Attempting to fly with them is not advised.”

“I’m really sorry, Entrapta.” Kyle said, sitting up slowly. “I just got excited.”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Entrapta said quickly, her voice going back to normal. “I’m not actually angry, I’m just pretending! Like Hordak!”

She glanced around and noticed that everyone was watching her with an unusual amount of focus.

Rather enjoying the attention, Entrapta resumed her Hordak impression. “We clearly require more tests. BUT! Once perfected, we will provide each of you with a Foe-system. If you can use them properly, they will give you the strength to crack Beast Island wide open and feast upon her secrets!!”

The assembled Islanders broke out into applause, all of them seeming excited by the potential of the new invention.

“Yes!” Entrapta cackled. “Our opponents are but beasts of flesh! With the power of Science we can conquer this land and build a new empire! Where no one can tell you what to do, or call you weird!!”

The cheers were even louder this time and Hordak decided to step in, worried that Entrapta was getting a little carried away.

“This new technology will help make our work here much safer, but we will be relying on you all to wield it responsibly,” Hordak said softly but firmly. “You have already performed your duties adequately, just being here is an act of bravery by all of you and I know our trust in you has not been misplaced.”

There was a slight look of confusion on all the Islanders' faces.

“Wait, which one is the scary one again?” Capra whispered to Octavia.

“Team Alpha will report to be measured at their convenience.” Hordak shot a light glare at Capra. “As you have experience hunting, we will be relying on you to make the first forays into the wilderness.”

Octavia looked a little worried, but Capra and Sizzle threw their arms around her shoulders.

“Don’t worry, Boss.” Capra laughed. “Siz and I know how to walk on the _wild side_ , we won't let you get eaten.”

“Unless you’re into that,” Sizzle growled with a wink.

Octavia’s tentacles whipped around their ankles, hoisting the two wastelanders upside down.

“I am quite capable of looking after myself,” Octavia said sternly, blushing slightly.

Meanwhile, Entrapta had given Kyle’s armor a quick checkover, confirming that there was no major damage.

“Can you walk it back to the lab?’ Entrapta asked him. “It’s pretty heavy when no one's inside.”

“Please give him a medical exam as well,” Hordak asked Rogelio. “Check for any internal injuries.”

“Yeah, I’m great!” Kyle got to his feet, swaying slightly. “And he can check my insides any time.” He giggled loudly.

“Maybe check for a concussion as well.” Hordak added quickly.

Their first trial seemed to have been _mostly_ successful. Kyle was still alive, after all.

But Hordak realised they might have to rethink some of the safety mechanisms before they did a full weapons test.

Entrapta was of course overjoyed at the results. Hordak was sure she would have been disappointed if nothing at all went wrong.

As she kept telling him, any failure was just an opportunity to learn, adapt and improve.

And he found he was truly starting to believe it.

In the past he might have been angry at Kyle and blamed him for the mistakes.

But now that just felt foolish.

He was not perfect, and he could not expect himself to achieve perfect results on the first try.

Instead he felt excited at the anticipation of more work, eager to continue refining their beautiful new creation together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to our regular programming :)
> 
> Hordak occasionally needs to remind Entrapta that they are supposed to be here to restore the land, not to build a new Technocracy.


	11. Distant Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak has a slight temper relapse and unearths an old passion.

Hordak and Entrapta’s Prototype still required a lot of tinkering, reprogramming and testing before they would be satisfied with it.

After seeing the results of Kyle’s test runs they ended up having to alter a lot of their initial concepts and incorporate numerous extra safety mechanisms. 

Hordak decided to hold off on weapon-testing completely until he completed a ‘smart fire’ system, which prevented the weapons from being fired if they were pointed at a ‘friendly target'. This doubtlessly saved a few lives given how carelessly Kyle swung around the laser cannon.

But eventually, they felt confident that the armor could be operated safely without supervision.

Producing more suits was going to be its own challenge, of course; requiring further salvaging trips and a lot of creative engineering.

Adding to that was the fact that each suit had to be custom fitted for its wearer. For those like Octavia and Sizzle, with non-standard biology, it meant even more work designing for their extra limbs.

Their workload was, however, slightly lessened by some unexpected assistance.

Entrapta decided to give Kyle a chance helping them with some of the simple components, which resulted in remarkably few explosions.

And Lowtail quietly recommended that Hordak let Pmal assist them as well.

Hordak hadn’t paid much attention to the quiet Moth. He vaguely remembered her personnel files had contained nothing exceptional and so he hadn’t expected much.

But he soon discovered that she was excellent at following instructions and, if given clear guidance and the space to work, was able to assemble even the more complex components perfectly.

Etherians continued to surprise him.

All this progress would be making Hordak feel very satisfied if it had not been for one thing:

Entrapta’s taste in music.

A couple of days after they landed on the Island she had found an old First Ones ‘Auto-Minstrel’, a device that played music stored in its memory banks.

It had quickly become one of her favourite artifacts, playing it at all times in the lab.

Playing the same couple of songs on loop in fact.

Hordak barely considered it music, all deep thumping bass and electronic synthesisers.

And while he had tolerated it at first, after almost a week of the supposed ‘music’ pounding its way through his skull, his patience had been completely expended.

“That's it!” Hordak bellowed, slamming his fists down on the table he was working at, sending the tools bouncing a foot in the air. “I cannot stand this CACOPHONY for a moment longer!” He grabbed his ears, pulling on them painfully. 

Entrapta looked over at him in confusion as Kyle and Imp dived under a workbench.

“What do you mean?” She asked calmly.

“This!!” Hordak grabbed the Auto-Minstrel, shutting off the music and barely holding himself back from tearing it in half. “It’s torture! There’s no wonder the First Ones went extinct if this is what they considered music!”

“Well, why didn’t you say something?” Entrapta folded her arms, frowning at him slightly.

“I…” Hordak paused. “Well, you were enjoying it, I didn’t want to…”

“If you didn’t say anything, how am I supposed to know you didn’t like it?” Entrapta moved over to him, taking the small box and putting a hand on his shoulder.

Hordak was silent. There was no way she could have known, of course. Meaning that getting angry about it was entirely unconstructive.

It wasn’t Entrapta's fault at all. He had essentially been the one tormenting himself.

He had thought he was doing a good thing by attempting to tolerate it quietly and not ruin her fun. But instead he was just building up resentment over something completely trivial.

“Why don’t you pick some music you like!” Entrapta said happily. “Then we can take turns, or we can just have it off for a while.”

Hordak sighed, rubbing his forehead. “That is a very reasonable solution.”

“You have to remember to communicate if something is a problem!” Entrapta pulled him into a tight hug, stroking his hair gently. “If I don’t know, then we can’t fix it.”

She paused for a few moments. “Is there anything else that’s troubling you?”

“No. Well, to be honest…” Hordak felt embarrassed, realising just how childish and petty his outburst had been. “I think I just wanted an excuse to be angry about something.”

He focused on Entrapta's fingers running through his hair, the light touch easing the stress inside him.

“I’ve been trying so hard to be ‘nice’ all the time, and this project, all these tests, it’s so frustrating!” Hordak threw his hands up in the air. “I know it’s progress, but all the little failures…”

“It’s okay to be angry sometimes,” Entrapta said softly. “You just need to learn how to deal with it healthily, not let it build up until you explode. And you know you’ve been doing a great job, but nobody is perfect. You aren’t expected to just change completely overnight, it’s a gradual process.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said quietly, poking his head out from under the bench slightly. “You didn’t even yell at me when I soldered that fuel cell in backwards and nearly set the lab on fire!”

“Don’t remind me of that right now.” Hordak growled, Kyle immediately retreating back into hiding.

“You’ve been working really hard lately, maybe you need some sort of outlet? Something fun to do,” Entrapta said thoughtfully. “Why don’t we take a bit of a break and see if there’s any music you like on there?” She handed the Auto-Minstrel back to Hordak carefully. “There’s terabytes of data on it so there has to be something!”

Hordak took the box and started flicking through its menus. He couldn’t read First Ones writing as well as Entrapta, but he could recognise some chunks and the numbers.

The tracks could be sorted by a wide range of factors, like bpm and rhythm structures. Though the ‘genre’ categories were completely incomprehensible.

The first time he had heard music was in the Scorpion kingdom.

They had been passionate people, who loved to sing and dance and play music.

His favourite had been…

One of the tracks caught his ear as he flicked through them. It had the right tempo. The instruments didn’t sound authentic at all, but the rhythm was right as well.

He let out a happy sigh as the sound carried him back.

“This!” Hordak swept his hand out dramatically, his hips already swaying slightly, “...is a tango.”

Entrapta pulled a face, wiggling experimentally to the beat. “It's not bad.”

Hordak's face fell. “Well, there’s supposed to be dancing.”

“Oooh! Can you show it to me?!” Entrapta asked excitedly.

“It’s quite a complex dance, and I don’t really know how to lead.” Hordak's face fell even further.

“That’s okay.” Entrapta turned back to her work, leaving the box with him. “You can pick the rest of the music for today, then tomorrow we can work out a fair division of time.”

Hordak felt disappointed by her reaction.

It had been a magical experience for him, a young clone, freshly severed from his brothers; to hear the music, see the swirling colours of the dancers' clothes. Something so unnecessary and full of emotion.

It had almost been enough to distract him from his goals.

Almost.

The bad memories crept back in, overwhelming those happy remembrances.

Entrapta would never experience that, because he had destroyed it and ground it all to sand.

But he still wanted to share it with her somehow.

They went back to work on the new Foe armor, but Hordak was already starting to plan a little side project.

It would require relatively few components. A hologram emitter working in tandem with a small force field generator, to give the image the illusion of touch.

The main effort would be in the programming. He would need to tweak the music as well; alter some of the harmonies and the song's beats.

He started working on it in his spare time, excusing himself during meals and staying up late at night.

He didn’t have to be secretive, but he didn’t want Entrapta to see it until it was completely ready.

As he went over the moves, the dance started to concern him a little. He had been much younger when he had learnt it; his condition had not progressed so much and he was much faster and more flexible.

Hopefully his exoskeleton would be enough to make up from the effects of time.

They had completed work on Team Alpha's Foe armor by the time he felt ready.

Kyle and Pmal had taken the armor out to help Team Alpha with their first tests. Entrapta was about to follow them when Hordak stopped her.

“You wanted me to show you the dance," He said, slipping off his robe.

Underneath he was wearing a long, tight black dress and a pair of sharp heels. An outfit gifted to him long ago that had sat for years at the bottom of his small collection of clothing.

Entrapta’s eyes went wide as she looked him up and down. “Is this what you’ve been working on?” She asked as her hair reached out to zip the ‘door’ to the lab closed.

Hordak nodded. “The Tango was a traditional dance of the Scorpion Kingdom, meant to display the dancer's skill, strength and restraint.”

He clapped his hands. “Run program, Scorpio Alpha-Five.”

The hologram generator flickered to life, projecting a simple image of a large Scorpion man wearing a suit.

Hordak took a deep breath and hit play on the Auto-Minstrel, the track already queued up.

Entrapta gasped as Hordak flicked the long hem of the dress aside, revealing a shorter, slightly frilly skirt beneath.

The hologram pulled off his jacket and tossed it aside, clacking his claws to the beat of the song.

She watched, entranced as Hordak and his dance partner slowly approached each other. Hordak rolled his hips as he walked, leaning back.

The Scorpion man grabbed Hordak delicately with his claws, snapping their bodies together before swinging Hordak into a spin, flinging him away and pulling him back.

Hordak needn’t have worried. As he danced, he felt lighter on his feet than he had in a long time. All the little concerns that had been weighing upon him just fading away.

Why had he ever stopped this? He wondered to himself.

The hologram pulled away, letting Hordak ‘chase’ him, before pulling him into a tight embrace.

That's it. He remembered as he stared into his dance partner's blank face.

It had been far too dangerous, too distracting for him. Not appropriate behaviour for one of Prime’s _beloved_.

A sense of melancholy crept into him as he continued to dance. He had had so many chances to take a different path, to not put himself through so much pain. But he hadn’t seen them until it was almost too late.

Instead he had chosen to crush those tiny shreds of burgeoning emotion long ago. Drowning them in the blood of those who dared to offer him a home.

Hordak's hearts were pounding as the hologram lifted him into the air before flipping him into a deep plunge.

His simulated partner helped him to his feet and took a quick bow, then disappeared.

“What do you think?” Hordak asked, his face flushed heavily from exertion.

“That was so... Erotic!” Entrapta whispered gleefully, her hair curled tightly into a frizzy mass.

“What!” Hordak gasped. “No, I told you, it's about strength and flexibility and-”

“Those are all sexy things!”

Hordak was a little glad he was already so flushed that Entrapta couldn’t tell if he was blushing or not.

“You called that program Scorpio.” Entrapta peered at him curiously. “Was that King Scorpio?.. Scorpia’s grandfather??”

“Yes, he was my host, when I first arrived on this planet. He taught me to dance, among many things.” Hordak sighed a little sadly. “He was an excellent host, I only wish I had repaid him with the kindness he deserved.”

“Scorpia’s Grandfather had a crush on you!” Entrapta squealed.

“That’s ridiculous!” Hordak protested.

“If he taught you to dance like that, he had a crush on you!” Entrapta clasped her hands, her eyes sparkling.

Hordak had been even worse back then at reading emotional displays, but he was sure he hadn’t misjudged things _that_ badly.

It was true he and the King had spent a lot of time together, but he had always assumed that King Scorpio was rightfully suspicious of him and wanted to keep a close eye on him.

But that wouldn’t explain all the things he taught Hordak about leading an army and running a kingdom...

And a lot of the women in the Kingdom had seemed angry with him when he danced with the King, but he had assumed that was just them seeing him as an outsider, not some kind of jealousy.

And now that he had some… Experience in certain matters, he realised that a lot of the moves were rather suggestive.

Entrapta didn’t notice the look of concern and horror that was passing over Hordak's face. Her head filled with images of a young, naive Hordak and a big, beefy Scorpion man.

Maybe she should write fanfic?

“Well!” Hordak cleared his throat loudly, eager to change the subject. “We should go and check on our assistants! We need to make sure that we properly prepared the neural handshake for their additional limbs.”

“Wait!” Entrapta pleaded as Hordak began to stride off. “One more time! Please! I _need_ to record this!”

Hordak hurried over to the testing ground where Team Alpha were already suited up.

Kyle’s eyes went wide as he saw what Hordak was wearing, but didn’t say anything.

Capra attempted to whistle but was thankfully muffled by her helmet, and Octavia snapped a painfully sharp salute.

“SIR!” she bellowed.

“I’ve already told you that's unnecessary.” Hordak said with a wave. “How is the armor, do you have a full range of motion in all your limbs?”

“I just wanted to express admiration for your outfit!” Octavia continued loudly, moving to stand at ease. “Your thighs look particularly deadly.”

“Ahhh... Thank you.” Hordak had forgotten what he was wearing in his hurry to end the conversation. “But, the armor?”

“Oh, yes!” Octavia flexed experimentally, coiling and uncoiling her tentacles, which were now sheathed in a thin layer of sharpened metal and artificial muscle fibers. “It’s perfect, I can barely tell I’m wearing it.”

Sizzle made a few similar motions with both of her sets of arms, giving Hordak a quadruple thumbs up.

“Excellent.” Hordak nodded, trying not to wobble as his heels sank into the dirt. “Take some time to get used to its functions, once you are ready we will need you to begin collecting samples of plant and animal life. It may take a while for us to find organisms that are both plentiful and edible.”

“Try not to kill anything that looks unique!” Entrapta chimed in as she joined them. “We still need to determine which organisms should be preserved and which need to be eradicated. Live samples would be best.”

“We will be requiring your assistance with these tests as well.” Hordak said, turning to Kyle.

“You mean… taking notes?” Kyle asked hopefully.

“You’re going to be one of our taste testers!” Entrapta said enthusiastically. “You have the weakest constitution of the group, and Grizzlor has the strongest, so we will need the two of you to test for adverse reactions!”

“Oh, boy.” Kyle sighed, looking slightly sick already.

“Don’t worry.” Hordak patted Kyle on the back in what he hoped was an encouraging manner. “Entrapta and I will test the samples for any known toxins or harmful bacteria before you consume them.”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, little man!” Capra added. “We’ll bring you back some nice exotic queue-zeeen!”

“The more eyes and legs, the tastier it is!” Sizzle growled, making Kyle look even more faint.

“An interesting Hypothesis.” Entrapta said to herself quietly, whipping out her recorder. “Remember to chart the number of eyes and limbs against edibility for potential correlation.”

“In any case,” Hordak said firmly, attempting to get things back on track. “This is a mission of critical importance. Before we can start surveying the Island properly, we need to secure a supply of food. As you know our supplies will not be lasting for much longer.”

“You got it, Boss!” Capra shouted, flexing dramatically. “Sizzle and I are sick of dried crap, we want some fresh meat!” She moved to lean heavily on Octavia’s shoulder. “What about you Octa? I bet you like it raw and wriggling, right?”

Octavias tentacles rose up behind her, the sharpened metal points aiming directly at Capra’s head.

“I will make sure things go smoothly,” Octavia said to Hordak calmly, as Capra backed away slowly. “We will not fail.”

“I have no doubt in your abilities.” Hordak bowed to her deeply.

“Oh, and Octavia.” He raised his voice, glancing over at Capra and Sizzle. “If those two keep giving you trouble, you have my permission to put them on the menu.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Octavia growled, baring her sharp teeth.

“Hah hah.” Capra laughed nervously as Hordak started to walk away. “Real funny, Boss… Boss?”

Hordak allowed himself a small smile as he sauntered off, ignoring Capra’s increasingly worried cries. Octavia knew he hadn’t been serious… Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **The Sting in the Tale**  
>  -A romantic tragedy by Entrapta Dryl
> 
> “The Good King Scorpio is a man in his prime, but after the death of his wife a few years ago, he swore never to love again.  
> One day a strange and beautiful Alien literally falls into his life, and his heart begins to stir.  
> Can he teach this mysterious homme fatale to love? Or will his dark past prove too strong, and lead the passionate King to his Doom?”
> 
> -Coming soon to Etherian Bookstores!
> 
> Much inspiration for the dance was lifted from [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lAKlYTQVKY) as I have no idea how to choreograph a tango.


	12. Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak gets worried about the future of their little colony

True to her word, Octavia ensured that the specimen gathering was conducted in a rigorously scientific manner.

While she let Capra and Sizzle take the lead with hunting, acknowledging their experience in the art, she was tireless at gathering data, making sure that every specimen was accompanied by numerous pages of notes.

Capra and Sizzle were also working as hard as they could. Despite their experience, they soon discovered that just about everything on Beast Island was more than capable of hunting them back.

While the Foe armor gave them enough of an edge to out fight anything that got the drop on them and prevented the claws and teeth of the many beasts from wounding them too badly, they were still returning bruised, battered and exhausted.

What made all this even worse for Hordak was their complete lack of results.

As soon as they began their initial tests Hordak and Entrapta discovered that the flesh and organs of every large beast that Team Alpha brought back contained dangerous amounts of radioactive isotopes.

The larger the creature, the higher the concentration of isotopes; leading Hordak and Entrapta to hypothesize that these contaminants had entered the food chain at the base level, slowly becoming more concentrated as organisms consumed others.

And in this case the failure was affecting more than Hordak’s pride.

Every time he had to tell Team Alpha that the results of their hard work would have to be destroyed they would smile and laugh, make some off colour joke and promise to do better next time.

Then they would head back out the next morning, no matter how much Hordak insisted they needed a break, determined not to rest until they had acquired results.

Hordak still might struggle with seeing through deception and reading people’s true intentions, but even he could see that they were pushing themselves far beyond their limits, and how much this responsibility was weighing upon them.

On the plant based side of things they managed to forage up a number of fruits, nuts and root vegetables that had a low enough concentration of the toxic materials to be neutralised with a quick bath of gamma rays.

However, if they would all prove to be edible was another matter.

They ended up with more ‘taste testers’ than expected, as the rest of Kyle and Grizzlor’s teams volunteered to join them out of solidarity. (Though it quickly became apparent that Trako was only there to take photos of the others' reactions.) 

This turned out to be a very good thing, as neither Hordak nor Entrapta had realised just how much results would vary between species.

A couple of the samples that Kyle was able to consume without problem gave Rogelio a terrible rash just by touching them and gave Grizzlor and Alice a severe case of indigestion.

Some of the samples even appeared to possess magically deleterious effects. One of the nuts caused Kyle and Lonnie to begin to float for an entire hour (Luckily they were caught and tethered before they drifted away) and one of the fruits appeared to freeze Alice in stasis for a number of minutes.

Hordak and Entrapta put those samples aside for further study, but they were obviously too hazardous for consumption.

After many days of testing they ended up with only two samples that were universally consumable, neither of which were particularly tasty.

The only thing that seemed to be going even vaguely well was their work on the Foe armor, and even that was not without problems.

Pmal was continuing to work efficiently, as was Kyle when he wasn’t recovering from the food testing.

But Hordak had noticed that a few tools and pieces of equipment had gone missing.

No one professed to have any knowledge of them, but Hordak suspected Kyle might have broken them.

As it was nothing irreplaceable and he didn’t want to embarrass Kyle, Hordak decided to let it go, but he resolved to try and keep a closer eye on the lab's inventory in the future.

Hordak felt like it was the last straw when their invisible fence finally failed.

The Islanders were all preparing to sit down for dinner when a Tyrosaur came clambering over the wall, probably lured by the smell of cooking food.

It was even bigger than the stories had made it seem; a hulking dragon with thick scales and claws like swords.

It seemed crazy with pain and hunger. Its wings were a tattered mess of torn skin and oozing wounds. Not even such a mighty creature was able to survive Beast Island unscathed.

Grizzlor and Lowtail reacted instantly; grabbing their laser rifles and firing upon it, running away from the group as they did.

The blasts barely scratched the beast's scales, but it was enough to get its attention. Keeping it focused on them long enough for Lonnie and Octavia to sprint off and throw on their Foe armor.

In a display of extreme bravery and stupidity, Lonnie charged the Tyrosaur head on, using the boosters to fling herself directly into its mouth.

She held its jaws open, punching it in the throat hard enough to stun it for a moment. Which gave Octavia enough time to leap onto its back and drive her tentacles neatly through its brain.

To Hordak, this seemed like a death knell for their little colony. If the beast’s wings hadn’t already been damaged they wouldn’t have stood a chance at defending themselves.

It was a matter of time before they were overrun. They probably wouldn’t even have time to starve.

Complete failure was now inevitable.

But no one else seemed to share his attitude.

The rest of the Islanders burst into cheers as the Tyrosaur hit the ground, praising Lonnie and the other ex-Captains for their quick thinking and excitedly posing with the slain dragon before sitting back down to dinner as though their brush with death had been nothing more than some light entertainment.

Lonnie had suffered some rather severe wounds where the Tyrosaur’s teeth had punched through her armor, but she was just as happy as the rest of them, talking about how cool the scars were going to look as Rogelio sewed her up.

Hordak considered it might be sheer stupidity, perhaps they just didn’t comprehend how poorly things were going.

But that would be reductive of him. They had all surpassed his expectations in various ways already. And it wasn’t like he was hiding anything from them, everyone was intimately involved in the functioning of their little society.

Hordak noticed Grizzlor heading off to return the weapons to their charging stations and slipped off after him.

“Hordak?” Grizzlor noticed Hordak behind him as he gave the weapons a quick check and wipedown. “Is everything alright? Just making sure these will be ready to go when we need them next.”

Hordak considered his words carefully, trying to find the right way to frame his concerns. “I would like to seek your counsel.”

Grizzlor smiled broadly, sitting down and looking to Hordak attentively. “Ask away.”

Hordak took a deep breath. “I have grown… concerned about the fate of our mission. To be blunt, things are not going well. Yet, morale seems unusually high. Everyone is pushing themselves beyond what I could ask of them but I have heard no complaints, no signs of unrest.”

Grizzlor nodded slowly. “Well, simply. They have faith. They believe that we can succeed here.”

“But why?” Hordak felt himself growing frustrated. “When all the evidence indicates otherwise?”

Grizzlor stood, placing a hand on Hordak’s shoulder and looking him straight in the eye. “Because you told them we can do it. We trust you. You may have made some bad decisions before but you’re a bloody terrible liar.”

“But-”

Grizzlor cut Hordak off, speaking firmly. “We’ve already done more than anyone expected. Those Princesses sent us here to fail and we are going to rub their damn smug faces in it.” 

He paused for a moment, his face taking on a slightly softer expression. “I destroyed a lot of things in the Horde but now we have a chance to build something special, and I will gladly give my life before I give up on it.”

Hordak was silent for a few moments. He didn’t understand Grizzlor at all. Why anyone would trust him, someone whose life had been nothing but a long string of failures, was beyond him.

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t be sorry. Just suck your gut in, stop worrying about problems and start fixing them.”

Hordak stood up straight, casting a quick glance down at his stomach.

He felt like saluting Grizzlor. He wasn’t sure if it was appropriate, but he did it anyway.

“At ease, partner,” Girzzlor growled playfully, grabbing Hordak and pulling him into a tight bear hug. “I’ve been following you for over twenty years, and some of those kids, this has been their entire life. We’re putting our lives in your hands, so don’t you dare lose faith in us.”

Hordak didn’t go to bed that night. Grizzlor’s words had filled him with new determination.

While failures were inevitable, giving up was not an option.

By the time the sun rose, he had completed a prototype to replace the fake signal emitters.

A high powered tesla coil that would shock anything that came close, strong enough to hopefully deter any curious predators.

Hordak had also fitted it with an ultraviolet heat lamp, to attract the Island’s plentiful insects.

While no one had been particularly enthusiastic about consuming them, they had discovered that the insects were small enough to have only trace amounts of contaminants, and that most of them were edible once thoroughly cooked.

The main problem had been that there was no efficient way to ‘hunt’ the bugs, but with this set up, they would simply need to collect them in the mornings.

Insect protein had been one of the main ingredients in the grey Horde ration bars, so Hordak knew that it could be palatable if it was not obvious what they were eating.

In any case, it would serve as a good substitute until they could find something better.

Hordak also decided that he needed to start to get to know the other Islanders better, on a personal level.

They were no longer his subordinates and holding himself apart from them would only serve to make him forget what they were fighting for here.

During breakfast Hordak moved from his usual spot to sit down next to Capra and Sizzle. They were the ones who he knew the least about so it seemed a good place to start.

“Good Mor-”

“We don’t know anything about it!” Capra interrupted Hordak immediately, looking incredibly guilty.

“What?” Hordak was completely thrown off. He had been practicing his ‘casual small talk’ in anticipation of this but Capra’s reaction was rather unexpected.

“No, I just wanted to ask you about Catra.” Hordak tried to recover by cutting to the point.

Both Capra and Sizzle breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, sure, I mean we didn’t really know her for that long,” Capra said.

“True,” Hordak replied, “but it was a pivotal time. Just before things started to go wrong, and I would like to know what transpired to push her over the edge.”

“Okay, then.” Capra shrugged. “When we first met her, in the Wastes, she just kinda rocked up out of nowhere with that big, cute scorpion. And she made it clear pretty quick that she was completely crazy.”

“The badass kind of crazy,” Sizzle growled.

“Oh, yeah.” Capra nodded. “Totally. Now, you learn to judge people in the Crimson Wastes; it’s a survival mechanism. And as soon as those claws came out…” Capra leant back, fanning herself with her hand. “I fuckin folded like a dried out snakebat! It was instinctual!”

“It was hot,” Sizzle added.

“Oh, super hot.”

“Hmmmmm…” Hordak felt slightly uncomfortable with their descriptions of Catra.

“So, we figure we’ll lead her into Tung Lashor’s territory, get her dealt with before she realises we don’t know where we’re going,” Capra continued, “and she just does not care. She takes him on, one on one, and leaves him to drown in quicksand.”

“Not a quick death, bad name.” Sizzle shook her head sadly.

“Then we go run off Huntara, catch that She-Ra chick, seize a ton of sweet space loot and throw a bomb ass party. It’s been less than a day and she’s taken over the two biggest gangs and is basically running the Crimson Wastes.” Capra sighed. “It would have been so awesome if she’d just stayed, but she talked to the She-Ra girl and got all weird, so that's when we came back and met you!”

“Really?” Hordak was slightly confused. He was sure he hadn’t met them before their encounter on the docks.

“It’s cool.” Capra waved at Hordak dismissively. “We were kinda in the background. Anyway, we just rolled with it. Sizzle and I are natural Henchmen and the Horde was pretty cool.”

“Showers, very cool.” Sizzle sighed happily.

“Yeah! And she seemed pretty happy at first. She was really excited about the whole portal thing but then things started going downhill and she started getting real crazy.” Capra frowned.

“The bad kind of crazy.”

“I think it was that spooky elf that pushed her over the edge.” Capra winced at the memory. “I was there and it looked like she was messing Catra up pretty bad… Looked like she was going to kill her…” Capra looked down at her plate. “And then… Well, you know what happened next, she merc’d Entrapta-”

“You were there?!” Hordak’s fork crumpled in his fist, his eyes flashing slightly.

Capra flinched, looking over at Sizzle who shook her head quickly.

“Well...“ Capra shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. “Yeah. I was… It was pretty bad. Catra zapped her in the back and then she just stood there freaking out. She told me to put Entrapta on the transport here, so I just did it.” 

Hordak’s vision was tinged red, his blood pounding in his ears.

He stood up slowly, his claws digging into the table.

“You were following orders.” Hordak growled, struggling to control his breathing.

“Yeah! You get it, just orders-” Capra blurted out anxiously, Sizzle grabbing her hand and shushing her.

Hordak walked away slowly. Heading off to the edge of the camp where he could be alone.

He wanted to smash something, to vent his anger at Capra the only way he knew how.

But by the time he got there, the rage had drained out of him. Just leaving a cold lump of pain and guilt.

Capra could have lied to him. She had at least respected him enough to tell the truth.

He couldn’t blame her for it, she was just a bystander.

It was Catra’s fault.

And Catra was his fault.

Hordak wondered how things would have been different if Catra had stayed in the Crimson Wastes. If she had just taken the power and the respect she’d always wanted and left the Horde behind.

He and Entrapta would have never been separated, the portal never opened, Prime never summoned.

What would his life be like? What would he have been like?

He thought himself and Catra really were quite similar; so stubbornly dedicated to the pursuit of their own pain.

She was intelligent, cunning, skilled in combat and tactics. And certainly more adept at deception and manipulation that Hordak could ever be.

If he had realised her talents sooner he might have considered her his successor.

But Shadow Weaver had manipulated both of them. Serving her own, personal agenda to the end.

If it hadn’t been for her…That was a strange thing to consider. How Catra and even Adora might have turned out without her.

If he had been there instead, taken more of an active role with those in his care, rather than treating them like cogs in his great machine. If he had realised just how severe Shadow Weaver’s abuse of her position had been. And the abuse of those she was meant to be training.

Hordak snorted with laughter at the foolish daydream. Him as a father?

They would probably have been even more messed up.

“Where’s Hordak?” Entrapta’s voice called out as Imp swooped down beside him, hopping into Hordak’s lap.

“I can’t hide from you, little spy.” Hordaks ears perked up slightly as he scratched Imp’s chin.

“Where’s Hordak?” Imp played the snippet of Entrapta’s voice again.

“I’ll go back soon,” Hordak said softly, leaning back against the wall. “I just need a moment alone.”

Imp nodded, giving a happy little chirp before curling up in Hordak’s lap.

Hordak stroked Imp’s crest lightly and the little clone grabbed his hand, pulling it down so that he could hug it, gently chewing on Hordak’s sleeve.

He stayed there for a while, watching the slowly rising sun glowing through the clouds.

By the time he was ready to go, Imp had fallen asleep, so he ended up being trapped there, unwilling to disturb Imp’s nap.

Being trapped with his thoughts was usually a situation that Hordak tried to avoid. His thoughts were seldom pleasant and staying busy and distracted was much easier.

But it wasn’t so bad this time.

He still felt some anger towards Catra. But he knew that she was, in part, a product of his own failure and neglect.

He hadn’t really understood the concept of a childhood before. But Entrapta had tried to explain how it worked; how most species were not born fully formed. Instead their personalities formed over time as their brain developed through experiences.

Catra had known nothing but fear and pain and it was only inevitable that she would lash out with violence.

But it gave him some hope that she had still been able to grow. To begin to heal some of the damage done to her and to find love and happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hordaks reasoning is a little reductive in this chapter.
> 
> "Just following orders" is a terrible moral defence, but Hordak truly believes that he is responsible for the Hordes actions and those under him were blameless, in much the same way he considers the other Clones as guiltless for the things Prime made them do.


	13. A Day in the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We follow Capra, Octavia and Sizzle on an ordinary day out on the hunt.

Capra and Sizzle finished their breakfast in silence.

There was an unspoken tension between them. Capra could tell Sizzle thought that she should have held her tongue.

Capra never had a problem with lying; it was just another survival skill. In the Crimson Wastes, other people could be much more dangerous than any of the natural hazards and keeping on their good side was crucial.

Admitting to something as damning as what she had done was basically suicide.

They tried to slip away quietly but Entrapta swooped down on them as they headed to the equipment tent, filled with her usual bubbly enthusiasm.

“HEY!” she shouted, her hair shoving some small packages into Capra and Sizzle’s hands. “You’ve been staying out all day and missing lunch, and that’s bad! I know when I forget to eat I get all tired and grumpy, so you should take these! They’re… _Special_ protein bars! It’s a new recipe, so feedback is appreciated.”

Sizzle opened the package, sniffing at the contents. “It’s okay, we know it’s bugs.”

Entrapta sighed, puffing out her cheeks. “Hordak told me not to tell anyone. Apparently it tastes better if you don’t know.”

Sizzle shrugged, tucking the package into her pocket. “Bugs are tasty.”

Capra kept her head down. She couldn’t deal with Entrapta’s positivity right now, not when she was already feeling like a piece of crap.

She wasn’t sure if Entrapta remembered her part in the betrayal. She was weirdly hard to read like that. She seemed so open and naive, but she was far more complex than her goofy smile and childish excitement implied.

It was like when Capra first met Sizzle. It took her a while to understand what Sizzle was feeling, when she was upset or hurt. Like learning a new language.

“We should go,” Capra said quickly. “Octavia will be waiting.”

“Oh, of course.” Entrapta moved out of their way. “Bring back lots of data! And don’t die!”

Sizzle waved to Entrapta as Capra hurried off, scurrying to catch up with her.

“You should let it go,” Sizzle growled quietly. “She’s fine, no harm done.”

“You telling me you’d be fine getting ditched here alone?” Capra replied, slightly more harshly than she had intended. “She’s not fine, she’s just different.”

Octavia was indeed waiting for them once they got to the tent.

“Good Morning, Ladies!” Octavia boomed. “Ready to get your hands on some meat?”

Octavia’s stern expression dropped as Capra walked past her quietly.

“Hey, no joke?” Octavia punched Capra on the arm playfully. “I thought I set you up pretty good there?”

Capra just grunted and shrugged, checking her armor.

“Are you okay?” Octavia looked concerned now, reaching out to touch Capra but hesitating.

“I’m fine. I just want to get to work,” Capra replied, moving away from Octavia slightly.

“Did something happen?” Octavia asked, her voice unusually soft. “You can talk to me.”

“Hordak’s mad at her,” Sizzle growled.

“Oh, are you sure?” Octavia smiled at Capra. “I know he looks mad all the time but that's just how his face is.”

“I’m sure,” Capra sighed. She didn’t really want to talk about this right now but it seemed like Octavia wasn’t going to let it go. “I admitted to something really shitty… I should have just kept my mouth shut but now Hordak probably wants to murder me.”

“He’s not gonna do that. Hordak hasn’t murdered anyone in months!” Octavia said, in what was probably an attempt to be reassuring.

Capra groaned, wishing the tent had a wall for her to bang her head against. “You don’t get it. I’ve always been ready to run, ready to switch sides; never let myself get too comfortable… But I actually kinda like being here,” she hung her head, just speaking the words made her feel weak and soft. “Everyone’s so nice and everyone gets along… It’s kinda… sorta like having a family… And now I’ve fucked it up!”

Capra let out a little bleat of surprise as Octavia grabbed her in a tight hug.

“No matter what it is, we can work it out,” Octavia said. “You’re one of us, you both are. Nothing’s going to change that.”

Capra’s face was flushing brightly. She was trying to pay attention to Octavia’s words, but was more than a little distracted to discover that Octavia’s muscles were exactly as rock hard as they looked.

“Team hug!” Sizzle roared, picking them both up and squeezing the air out of Capra’s lungs.

Capra struggled for a few seconds, Octavia laughing loudly until Sizzle put them down.

“Do you want to take it easy today?” Octavia asked Capra. “We could join Team Beta picking fruit and stuff?”

Capra shook her head quickly, still gasping for breath. “No, I need a win right now. I wanna bring back something big.”

Octavia nodded. “We can try and head out to the South East quadrant. We haven't been there before, might find something new.”

“Maybe we’ll find some kind of Knife-Deer or Blade-Pig.” Sizzle growled hopefully as she started putting on her armor.

Capra liked donning her armor. Even though it had started to build up a bit of a funky smell from days of extended use, it always made her feel safe.

It was always a little awkward at first, stepping into the heavy legs and folding it closed around her. A moment of claustrophobia before it sealed with a hiss, becoming like a second skin.

Capra had actually started to enjoy the little sparks of pain that ran down her spine, followed by the sudden rush of power as her body became lighter than a feather; everything feeling a little faster, her reactions sharper.

She put on the helmet last, savouring the moment of calming darkness before it connected to the rest of the armor. The screen slowly powered up in front of her eyes with a gentle hum.

The slight fishbowl effect had been rather disorientating at first but she had started missing it when she was out of the armor, bumping into things as she forgot her field of view wasn’t as wide as her helmet’s augmented view.

“Alright, check check,” Octavia’s voice cracked in Capra’s ears. “Alpha One, all green.”

Capra smiled as she watched her armor’s diagnostic checks scrolling down the screen. Octavia always insisted on using her ‘call sign’ when they were on missions. Capra was pretty sure it just made her feel important.

“Capra, ready to go.” She said as her armor indicated all systems functional.

“Dragon Queen, ready to rock!” Sizzle growled.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that _Alpha Three_ ,” Octavia said, very sternly.

Capra stifled a snort of laughter. It really was hard to maintain a bad mood around those two.

Octavia and Sizzle exchanged a few more playful barbs as they made their way out through the gates and into Beast Island proper.

Now that Capra had started to get used to Beast Island she found it had a strange sort of beauty to it.

In a disturbing, ‘forest made of glowing flesh’ way.

But the more missions they ran, the more it started to make sense to her. As chaotic and organic as it seemed, everything had a logic to it.

For example, the red nodules only grew on ground that was soft enough for the Smile-Wyrms to tunnel through, and the little glowing lights that dotted the trees flickered more brightly when there were living creatures nearby.

Today they were heading out further than they had ever been before. The South East side of the Island was covered in particularly dense trees and growths. The strange, woven canopy was thick enough to completely block out the sunlight, plunging them into artificial night.

They moved slowly and carefully, Octavia taking notes on anything interesting they saw.

Which wasn’t much. Everything in this part of the Island seemed to have sunk into the ground. They saw a couple of odd artifacts poking up out of the ground and a half buried doorway to some kind of bunker, but nothing they could bring back with them.

They didn’t see many creatures either. Just a few rotting corpses, bound down by vines.

Capra was starting to feel like they should have just gone fruit picking, when they heard the sounds of crunching and slurping up ahead.

They all crouched down and turned off their lights, creeping closer until they could see... a bunch of small Pooka, tearing strips of meat off some unrecognisably mangled body.

“Ugh, Pooka,” Octavia whispered over the radio. “Let's get out of here.”

Capra started to creep closer. “We’ve never got one of them before.”

“Because they travel in massive packs,” Octavia hissed. “Fall back.”

“There's only a few of them.” Capra kept moving. “I can blast one and we’ll be out of here long before any more turn up.”

“Capra, this is a bad idea.” Sizzle sounded worried. But Capra wasn’t listening.

She needed to bring something back, to show Hordak that she could be useful.

One of the downsides of becoming so accustomed to moving in the armor was that Capra had forgotten just how much mass she actually had. And as she crept up on the feeding Pooka, she rested her weight on a large fallen branch. Intending to stealthily hop over it.

Instead, the branch gave way instantly with a loud crunch that echoed deafeningly in the silence.

Immediately, the shadows above them lit up with countless glowing red eyes.

“Shit,” all three of them said simultaneously.

There was a moment of silence that drew out painfully long. To Capra’s enhanced reflexes it felt like minutes that they hung there, frozen, going over and over what an idiot she was in her head.

The Pooka’s shrieks filled the air as they surged forwards.

Capra, Sizzle and Octavia took off immediately, sprinting as fast as they could; pushing their armor to the limit.

They were barely staying ahead of the furious Pookas. Octavia and Sizzle had a better head start, but the pack snapped at Capra’s heels.

Capra’s body was pumping with adrenaline, her mind racing as she ran for her life.

She had no idea where she was going, just trying to keep Sizzle and Octavia in sight..

She was moving fast enough that everything around her was a blur. It took all her focus not to trip, planting her feet more on instinct than conscious thought, ducking and weaving as Pookas leapt at her from behind.

Running for her life was a familiar thing for Capra. She had a lot of experience at it. After the initial panic, she felt herself easily slipping back into the rhythm.

Her breathing began to steady as her mind faded out, switching to survival mode. 

Jump. Dodge. Tree branch.

They hadn’t had to run like this in a while. With the armor they were able to go head to head with most of the Beast Island creatures, even if things got a little close sometimes.

Pookas were the exception. Not because they were particularly mighty or had special powers; simply due to their sheer numbers. They just didn’t have enough firepower to take all of them out before getting swarmed.

It would not be a pretty way to go.

Capra strumbled, almost falling head over heels as she thought about the shredded mess Pookas left behind when they were done feeding.

Up ahead, she saw Octavia and Sizzle leading her back to the First Ones’ bunker. 

Sizzle quickly dug away the dirt covering the half-open door before they dove inside. The door let out a screech as it began to slide closed behind them.

“HURRY UP!” Octavia roared, leaping between the doors and holding them open with her body.

Overheating warnings were popping up on Capra’s screen as she tried to push herself even faster. The Pookas were already starting to overtake her, trying to circle around and cut her off.

There was no way she could get there before them. She had to slow them down, or find some way to get ahead.

A flash of red caught her eye. Red nodules. There might be tunnels below them. 

If she could blow them open, she could take out a bunch of Pookas at once and maybe distract them long enough to get inside the bunker.

Plus, she would look really, really cool.

Capra charged her arm cannon, making a quick jump forward to try and give herself some extra space. Then she spun around and aimed at the ground under the main pack of the pursuing Pookas.

She fired. And at that exact moment, one particularly unfortunate Pooka decided to fling itself at her, leaping directly in front of the arm cannon.

The plasma burst detonated instantly. Capra didn’t have any time to react before the shockwave punched through her, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying backwards.

She heard Octavia and Sizzle scream over the radio for a second before it cut off.

Octavia was knocked back as well, losing her hold on the door as she raised her arms to protect herself.

Capra vaguely realised she was falling for longer than she should have been. There were tunnels beneath them after all; lucky her! And now she was plummeting down into a pit, rocks and chunks of earth tumbling down with her.

 _This just isn’t fair._ Capra thought as she tumbled through the air. She wasn’t Kyle. She was a cool, street smart character who always got herself out of trouble.

Struggling to turn herself around, she desperately tried to fire the boosters to slow her descent. But in her disorientated state, she only managed to slam herself into the side of the collapsing pit.

This really wasn’t fair.

She hit the ground hard. A brief blossom of pain erupted in her chest before her head slammed down and everything went black.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she clawed her way back to throbbing, aching consciousness.

Her chest felt tight, spiking with pain as she breathed, and her head was pounding... but it felt like the armor was still holding her together enough to move.

She could smell and taste blood, and the air inside her helmet felt stale and humid. 

When she opened her eyes, her vision was obscured with a wall of static. Overlaid with garbled error messages that flashed in fractured red font.

Slowly and painfully, she reached up to detach her helmet.

She took a deep breath of fresh air that she immediately regretted as the pain in her chest intensified.

‘Come on, Capra.’ She wasn’t sure if she was speaking out loud or not. Her head was still a jumbled mess. ‘Not dead yet, keep moving.’

She slowly pushed herself upright. Her armor was still responding, a little slowly but at least she wasn’t trapped inside a hunk of immobile metal.

Capra froze as she saw a single, glowing red eye in the darkness. A Pooka was crouched a few meters away from her, looking similarly disorientated.

Looking around slowly, she realised they were otherwise alone.

One solitary Pooka. Finally her luck was taking a turn.

Capra grinned, pulling her knife from its sheath and advancing on the Pooka.

“Alright you little shit, I hope you taste good.”

The Pooka limped back from Capra, one of its legs twisted at an unnatural angle. It threw back its head and let out a couple of desperate shrieks, baring its fangs.

Silence.

As the Pooka realised there was no response to its cries it seemed to deflate. Its eye colour faded as it hunched down.

It tried to shuffle away but its leg failed to support its weight, folding beneath it and making the Pooka whimper in pain.

“Oh, come on,” Capra gritted her teeth, pushing herself forwards. “It’s just a monster.”

The Pooka let out a quiet squeak and curled itself up into a little ball, seemingly understanding its impending death.

“Damn it,” Capra cursed. She couldn’t bring herself to kill the thing, looking so pathetic and scared.

“Dumb ass stupid monkey-thing.” Capra grumbled, sitting down heavily.

The Pooka made a little squeak, baring its fangs at her again.

Capra put her knife down and dug through her pockets for the snacks Entrapta had given her.

“Cut it out.” She grumbled at the Pooka, cutting one of the protein bars in half and tossing it to the Pooka, eating the other half herself. “Just chill, we’re done.”

The Pooka watched her closely for a minute before grabbing the snack and devouring it. Making what Capra thought might have been a noise of gratitude, but she was probably just concussed.

As she ate, Capra looked around slowly, trying to figure out where she was.

She had assumed that she had fallen into one of the many Wyrm tunnels that criss crossed the island, but as her eyes adapted to the darkness she realised that the ‘tunnel’ had walls made of some kind of metal.

The hole she fell through was too high up to see, hidden in the shadows. If this chamber was part of the same structure that Octavia and Sizzle had entered from above, though, maybe she could meet back up with them.

She stood up slowly, scarfing down the rest of the protein bar. It was surprisingly tasty for something designed by Hordak and Entrapta; she almost regretted giving half to the Pooka.

“Alright, hope you can find your stupid friends.” Capra grunted at the Pooka, “but I’ve got to go find mine.”

The chamber was quite large and mostly filled with dirt and rubble, but there was a door set in one of the walls. Which Capra managed to lever open with only a minimal amount of horrific pain.

She started to head off into the new chamber when she heard a squeak behind her.

The Pooka was trying to follow her, hobbling along painfully on its broken leg.

“Oh, no.” Capra tried to shoo the Pooka off. “I am not an ‘animal companion’ kinda gal, you go your own way.”

The Pooka made another mournful squeak, looking up at her with its one big eye.

Capra let out a string of curses under her breath, before putting down her helmet and pushing it towards the little monster.

It let out a slightly happier squeak and hopped into the helmet, making itself comfortable.

“If you take a shit in that, I will eat you alive.” Capra growled, picking up the helmet gingerly, hoping this wasn’t some ploy to get into face-biting range.

The Pooka just settled down as she tucked the helmet under her arm, gripping the edge with its weird little insect hands.

They wandered through the dark hallways for a while. It seemed that the First Ones were good at a lot of things, but interior decorating was not one of them.

Capra felt like she was wandering through a maze, unsure if she was going in circles. Everything looked identical, and she was starting to feel dizzy from blood loss, which certainly wasn’t helping.

The Pooka let out a loud squawk as they passed a heavy looking door, wiggling in the helmet.

“That way?” Capra asked, her head spinning. “You think so, buddy?”

She leant against the door, expecting to have to force it but it slid open smoothly. A sudden waft of stale air hit her in the face.

The door led into a large chamber, too big for Capra to see the walls in the darkness.

As well as being slightly stagnant, the air felt somehow charged. Like the desert just before a thunderstorm.

“This… doesn’t feel good,” Capra said, taking a few slow steps into the room.

A low, musical tone sounded as the ground lit up under Capra’s feet. It formed a glowing path to the centre of the room, where a single spotlight flickered to life. The light illuminated a huge sphere, hanging in mid-air.

Capra felt herself being drawn forwards.

The Sphere was just floating there, as steady as a rock; no sign of any supports or structures around it. Alluring in its impossibility.

Its surface was completely smooth and white, like it had been chiseled flawlessly from some gigantic chunk of marble.

The electric feeling in the air intensified as she got closer to the sphere, and before Capra realised what she was doing, she was reaching out to touch it.

A jolt ran through her body as her fingers brushed its surface, her armor suddenly humming with energy, moving faster and more smoothly.

Even more strangely, Capra herself felt like she had been supercharged. The pain in her chest faded to a dull ache, her exhaustion all but disappearing.

“Nice choice, Pookie.” Capra laughed, feeling a little giddy. “Maybe our luck is-”

“UNAUTHORISED USER DETECTED.” A voice boomed from everywhere and nowhere at once, cutting Capra off.

A ghostly, flickering blue figure appeared an inch away from Capra’s face, making her leap backwards in shock.

“Hologram, not a ghost.” Capra muttered to herself, trying to slow her breathing. She’d seen holograms before and while they were creepy, they couldn’t hurt you.

“UNAUTHORISED USER DETECTED.” The hologram repeated in that same, booming robotic voice.

“Don’t worry, spooky,” Capra said, feeling a bit more confident now. “We’re just looking for the door.”

Pookie let out a worried-sounding chitter and tucked themself further down into the helmet, their eye flashing bright red.Then the chamber was filled with the clacking of hundreds of sharp limbs.

Capra just started running, not waiting to see the horde of mechanical spiders that had materialised around them.

Her day had already been enough of a catastrophe. There was no way she was ending it getting torn to pieces by giant spiders.

There was a sealed door on the other side of the chamber. Capra put her shoulder down and charged it, smashing through with surprisingly little resistance. She sprinted up the stairs behind it,through some more bland, identical hallways... up more stairs. She turned every time Pookie screeched. It seemed a little stupid but the Pooka seemed to have made good decisions so far.

The further they got from the sphere, the more her comfortably energised feeling began to fade; her breathing becoming ragged and the pain more pronounced. But the ever present ‘clack clack clack’ echoing behind her spurred her onwards.

She felt like she was about to pass out when she rounded a corner, crashing straight into Octavia.

“CAPRA!” Sizzle roared, her tail flicking back and forth excitedly. “You’re okay!”

“Run,” Capra wheezed, pushing Sizzle away from her. “Hug later. Run!”

“Is that a Pooka?” Octavia jumped back, aiming her tentacles at Pookie.

“Their name is Pookie. Seriously, we gotta go,” Capra gasped for breath, trying to push Octavia and Sizzle onwards.

“The door sealed behind us,” Sizzle said. “We’re trapped.”

“Then we bust it open!” Capra leaned against the wall. All the shouting was starting to make her feel faint. “Did I mention the horde of killer spider bots?”

“Could have led with it,” Octavia said as a couple of the giant spiders scurried around the corner, She scooped Capra up in her arms and took off running, Sizzle right behind her.

It didn’t take long for them to get back to the door.

Sizzle immediately rushed ahead and blasted a hole in it, bracing herself against the wall and wrenching it open.

The spiders stopped pursuing them the moment they got outside, freezing and then slowly backing away, retreating into the darkness.

“Are you okay?” Octavia asked, breathing heavily.

“Mmmmmm…” Capra hummed, she was feeling very floaty and a little drowsy. Her head was awfully heavy as she rested it on Octavia’s chest. “Yeah, you got big, strong arms… Sizzle has more arms but yours are comfy.”

Sizzle leaned over and sniffed Capra, her face going pale. “She’s lost a shitton of blood, we gotta get her back fast.”

Octavia nodded, her face heavy with worry. “Alright, hold on, little lamb. This is going to get real bumpy but just stay awake. That’s an order.”

Capra struggled to hold back a yawn, putting her arm around Octavia’s neck and holding on as tightly as she could.

“You can go now, thanks for all the help,” Capra whispered to Pookie, giving her helmet a little shake. But the Pooka stayed put, wiggling down into their little ‘nest’.

“Lazy little shit,” she snorted, holding them close.

She was vaguely aware of Octavia carrying her back to the camp. The spikes of pain as she bounced around were the only thing stopping her from passing out.

Everything sounded muted and distant. She could tell that Octavia and Sizzle were talking to her, trying to keep her awake, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying.

They rushed her to the medical tent, where it took Bo a little while to get Pookie to let him near Capra. The Pooka seemed to have decided that he was trying to hurt her by taking off her armor and was perched on her chest, hissing and snarling until Bo managed to calm them down with a few tasty bugs.

Sizzle nearly puked when they finally got Capra’s armor off.

Capra’s entire lower body was drenched with blood that had begun to congeal inside her armor. A few of her ribs were broken and had punctured both her sides and her lung.

One of her arms was broken as well, though the armor had held everything tightly in place.

Luckily, Alice had the same blood type as Capra, and was big enough to survive donating a couple of liters.

Bo even managed to splint Pookie’s leg, almost losing a few fingers in the process.

Hordak and Entrapta came to visit Capra once she recovered consciousness.

“I NEED to know everything about the structure you discovered!” Entrapta burst in, talking rapidly, Hordak close behind her. “The ‘floating object’, what did it feel like? Did it have a smell? A taste?”

Entrapta stopped as she saw Pookie, flipping down her visor. “Oooo~ And my first subject for vivisection!” Her hair whipped out a handful of scalpels and forceps, lifting her up to loom over them. “How fascinating!”

Pookie’s eye flashed red and they puffed themself up, baring their fangs.

“Ah, no, sorry.” Capra put an arm in front of Pookie, sitting up with a wince. “This is Pookie and… Well, they got separated from their pack and then I gave them a name… So…” She could feel herself starting to sweat, only able to mumble awkwardly in her defence.

She had thought that Hordak was the scary one of the duo but right now Entrapta was frankly, terrifying.

“I understand,” Entrapta said happily, flipping up her visor and smiling, the scalpels going back in her toolbelt. Instantly back to her tiny, non-threatening self.

Entrapta spent a little while longer grilling Capra for details on the First Ones facility and especially the strange, floating sphere.

Once she was done, Entrapta hurried off to check on Capra’s armor. Hordak started to follow her, but Capra stopped him.

“Hey, Hordak. I’m really sorry.” Capra wished she could find better words. There were so many things she wanted to express but she was just too tired right now.

Hordak regarded her with his usual scowl. “If you refer to the events of the past, they are in the past. I have resolved to judge your character on how you have conducted yourself now.”

Capra snorted, wincing as the movement hurt her chest. “Well, that's not much better, is it?”

Hordak stared at her. His face was blank but Capra noticed his ears wiggling a bit. That probably meant something.

“What do you mean?” Hordak asked, moving to stand next to her bed.

“Look at today!” Capra waved her unbroken arm around in frustration. “All I managed to do was bust up my suit, waste a ton of time and adopt a rabid bug-monkey.” She scratched Pookie on the head, hoping they didn’t feel insulted.

“Capra,” Hordak growled, his scowl deepening. “First of all, I am far more concerned about your health than any damage to your armor; and second of all, since we have been here you have proven yourself to be one of the most dedicated, hardest workers in our group. I understand that you may feel like you have been experiencing failures recently, but remember that you have already brought back multiple edible foodstuffs as well as provided us with a massive amount of data that has given us great insight into the Island and its problems.”

Hordak reached out and awkwardly placed a hand on Capra’s shoulder, giving her a pat before quickly removing it. “You are a valued member of this team, do not forget that.”

“Cool,” Capra said, a lump rising in her throat. “Thanks.” She was not very good at being emotionally vulnerable. But she knew Hordak wasn’t either, and that small offer of comfort felt very significant coming from him.

“You are welcome.” Hordak nodded curtly, his ears looking particularly perky.

“So, do I have to call you dad now or something?” Capra quipped, blinking quickly and trying to hide how close she was to tears.

Hordak growled in frustration, turning his back on her and marching out of the tent, though Capra noticed his ears were still sticking up. That seemed to be a good sign.

Capra flopped back onto her bed, wiping her eyes. Pookie immediately hopped onto her lap, kneading her stomach rather painfully before curling up.

“Welcome to the family, Pookie.” She sighed, reaching down to scratch under the Pooka’s chin. “Hope you like it here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 13 is an unlucky number and Hordak has suffered enough recently so I figured it was time for someone else to do some suffering.
> 
> Also I'm dragging you all down into the pit of liking nameless secondary characters with me :D


	14. Clone Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected family visit! Is there anything more terrifying?
> 
> How about talking about your emotions? Hordak might have to do that as well!

Hordak wasn’t sure if their circumstances were actually improving or it was just his shift in attitude, but things seemed to be getting better.

Capra was going to be out of commission for a while, but the information that she and her team had brought back was intensely fascinating.

Entrapta had wanted to mount an expedition to go back to the First Ones facility immediately, but Hordak convinced her to wait as they had more pressing concerns on base.

The Pooka that Capra had apparently adopted had been a little troublesome. It stole food and occasionally chased Kyle around the camp, but Octavia was convinced that they would be able to train it to assist them in hunting, which could be highly beneficial in the long term.

Hordak’s new Tesla fence concept was working well. They had to pause their production of Foe Armor while they worked on it and it ended up using a lot more power than he expected, but it also exceeded expectations at how many bugs it allowed them to ‘harvest’.

A side effect of all the bug corpses was that they started attracting giant spiders to the fenceline. But those spiders turned out to be edible when prepared carefully, so Hordak counted that as another success.

Overall the camp was functioning well. They had been making great progress replacing more of the tents with sturdy, permanent structures and morale was still running high.

Everybody was getting along well and even Hordak’s attempts at ‘casual socialisation’ were progressing nicely.

With the help of his holographic partner, Hordak had started to teach Entrapta the tango and a couple of other dances.

Aside from it being an enjoyable experience and excellent stress relief, Hordak also found Entrapta to be exceptionally _passionate_ after these sessions, which was its own kind of reward.

With all this progress, Hordak was rather confused when he awoke one morning with a deep sense of impending doom.

At first he tried to distract himself with work, considering it a carry over from some unpleasant dream. But it only continued to build.

With growing anxiety he began to check the camp. Capra was recovering well, able to walk around unaided, and her ‘Pookie’ seemed peaceful. Kyle was also alive and un-mauled.

All the electric fence pylons were functioning normally, their fuel cells intact. The desalinator was similarly free of faults.

Hordak was beginning to think there might be something wrong with him when he saw a ship in the distance, heading towards the Island.

It was a Horde ship. One of the big old transport tankers.

He grabbed his spyglass and hurried down to the beach to get a better look.

There was a clone with bright pink hair standing on the prow of the ship, looking through a pair of binoculars. When they saw Hordak looking at them they began to jump up and down, waving excitedly.

Hordak lowered his spyglass. He took a few deep breaths before walking slowly back to the lab.

“Entrapta, my dear.” Hordak cleared his throat, speaking as calmly as possible. “It appears we have visitors.”

Entrapta dropped her tools and turned around, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “It's Wrong Hordak! I told you he was coming soon!”

Hordak massaged his temples. “Was I in the room when you told me?”

A few times Hordak had walked into the lab to find Entrapta in the middle of a conversation with him. Apparently unaware that he wasn’t actually present.

“Oh…” Entrapta stroked her chin thoughtfully, smearing oil all over her face. “I… think so?”

Hordak sighed heavily. Even if he had been aware it was coming, he still wouldn’t have been ready for it.

He pulled out a cloth and gently wiped Entrapta’s face. Wondering if there was any way to get out of this.

But Entrapta looked so excited. He knew she felt very close to Wrong Hordak (he really hated that name). She had, as she put it ‘broken him’ so she felt responsible for him in a way.

“Could you tell him that I’m… not home?” Hordak asked, already knowing that it was pointless.

“But they all really want to see you!” Entrapta smiled, melting the last of Hordak’s resolve. “It’ll be fun!”

“Very well,” Hordak sighed. “I will- wait, ‘they all’.”

“He’s bringing some of the clones he’s been working with!” Entrapta said brightly, already hurrying past Hordak to head towards the beach.

Hordak groaned. He briefly wondered if he could put himself in a temporary coma or something. Having to interact with just one of his ‘brothers’ was bad enough, but a whole pack of them?

The other clones were a very uncomfortable reminder of the past, of how he once was.

But it seemed he was to have to bear it for a short time at least. If nothing else it could be a test of his ability to be ‘nice’.

By the time the tanker had docked and launched its skiffs, most of the Islanders had joined Hordak and Entrapta on the beach, curiously waiting to meet their new ‘guests’.

Hordak’s despair deepened as he saw a familiar, slim green lizard standing alongside ‘Wrong Hordak’.

Double Trouble. What on earth could that flamboyant mercenary be doing with them? Hordak had no idea. They were probably just there to make him suffer.

“Brother! Sister!” Wrong Hordak cried out, leaping off the skiff as soon as it reached the shore. “It is wonderful to finally see you again!”

Wrong Hordak was wearing an eye blisteringly colorful outfit and his eyes were pink, matching his hair. Which made Hordak vaguely uncomfortable, his ears flicking back angrily as Wrong Hordak rushed up to hug Entrapta.

“Wrong Hordak.” Hordak walked up to him with a nod, “I thought the Princesses had forbidden you from having contact with me.”

“Oh yes!” Wrong Hordak beamed at Hordak brightly. “We just happened to experience ‘engine trouble’ and this was the only port nearby!” He winked in an overly dramatic manner. “Also, while I am honoured to be named in your stead, I have decided to craft my own name! I now go by ‘Kadroh’!”

“That’s wonderful!” Entrapta cried out, clapping her hands.

Hordak sighed softly. This new name was slightly better, he supposed.

He glanced over at Double Trouble, eyeing the lizard suspiciously. “And may I ask what _you_ are doing here?” he growled.

“I’ve found my calling, Darling!” Double Trouble did a little pirouette, sweeping their arm out over the other clones who were slowly disembarking. “Guru, Tutor, Life Coach! I’ve been helping your brothers adapt to their new existence. I’ve never had an audience so attentive and precise, observing every tiny detail.” Double Trouble put a hand to their forehead, leaning back in a dramatic pose. “They have truly pushed my performances to a new level of immersion!” They slunk over to Hordak’s side, putting a hand on his shoulder, “Perhaps you would like a private session? I’m sure I could find some things to teach even the ‘Great Hordak’!”

Hordak took a few steps back, looking at the other clones. There was a relatively large group of them, about fifteen or so, and they were an interesting mix. Some of them seemed to be dressed similarly to ‘Kadroh’, with a colourful and eccentric mix of clothing styles and variously customised hair and eyes.

Some of them were far more restrained, wearing simple clothing in plain colours. A couple even still had green eyes which made Hordak flinch a little, uncomfortable memories rushing through his head.

He could feel those eyes judging him, burrowing into his soul, sifting through his thoughts.

“What do you think, Hordak? You’ll do it, right?”

Hordak dimly became aware that Entrapta was talking to him. He wasn’t sure how long he had faded out for.

“Do… What?” Hordak asked slowly, becoming even more uncomfortable as he realised everyone was looking at him.

“Kadroh’s show!” Entrapta bounced excitedly. “He wants to interview you! And then we’re going to have a feast!”

Hordak felt very confused. Kadroh had a show? As in a theater production? And a Feast?

Panic gripped him. They barely had enough resources to feed the group of clones normally, let alone some extravagant display.

“A feast?” Hordak could see how excited Entrapta looked and he hated to ruin it. “I’m not sure if we can manage-”

“No, don’t worry!” Entrapta interjected quickly, clearly understanding his discomfort. “They brought lots of supplies! And they’re going to prepare it all. Though that seems more like they’re throwing a party for us, not the other way around.”

“Don’t worry, Honey,” Double Trouble said. “They love having something to do. Getting everything ready is half the fun for them.”

“Indeed!” One of the clones cried out, throwing up their arms. “Preparing sustenance for one's comrades is a joyus exaltation of choice and freedom! So many substances to choose from and so many ways to prepare them!” Their hands clasped together, a tear in their eye. “It is a beautiful art form.”

“Very well,” Hordak sighed. “And the ‘show’?”

Kadroh stepped forwards, his chest puffed up proudly. “With Double Trouble’s assistance, I have been producing an informative series for our Kin, discussing pertinent topics and providing advice to help with adapting. It would truly honour me if you would be willing to let me interview you for it.”

Hordak still felt uncomfortable. He didn’t want to be ‘interviewed’ by anyone and spending an extended period talking about himself was about the most unpleasant thing he could think of.

But Entrapta was still smiling at him, her eyes wide and sparkling. He couldn’t say no.

“I suppose I could do that. But, keep it short,” Hordak grumbled eventually.

Kadroh and the clones moved very efficiently, unloading their supplies and getting themselves set up in the camp’s meagre cooking facilities.

When Kadroh noticed how low the Islanders were on supplies, he insisted on gifting them a large amount of various staples and other easily preserved substances.

Despite his resistance to Kadroh’s presence, Hordak was very thankful for this. They had been doing the best they could with what they had, but Hordak had been growing worried about Entrapta in particular.

Everyone had been working hard to try and accommodate her dietary requirements, but Hordak had noticed that she had been losing weight recently, finding it difficult to eat a decent amount.

The foods that were easiest and most nutritious for her, like dumplings and pastries, were frankly impossible for them to prepare without staples. Such as flour and sugar, which they still had not found ways to produce on the island.

Kadroh assembled the ‘set’ for their interview inside one of the larger tents. There were a couple of seats for him and Hordak and an array of seating for the ‘audience’. A concept that sent Hordak’s anxiety rocketing to new levels.

There were also a number of potted plants. The placement of which Kadroh and Double Trouble seemed to consider very important, but Hordak could see no functional purpose for.

Once they were ready, Hordak was surprised to find the set up less distressing than he had expected.

To be sitting before an assembled host of his ‘brothers’ was something that brought back memories of far more painful gatherings. But it was strange how different it felt, seeing the watching clones smiling and talking, acting like people rather than silently judging statues.

One of the clones was holding a large camera and gave Kadroh a thumbs up as the ‘audience’ began to quieten.

“Ready?” Double Trouble called out from their elevated seat at the back of the room. “Action~”

“Greetings to all my Brothers, Sisters and those of other identification across the Galaxy! I am Kadroh and as always it is my honor to welcome you to Clone Talk!” Kadroh threw up his hands as the audience applauded. “Today I am on Beast Island, Etheria’s most mysterious and hostile location, with my Brother, Hordak! Who is working to make this deadly place into somewhere people can call home. I’m going to be having a talk with Hordak about his experiences, but first, everyone's favourite segment, ‘Living well with Double Trouble!’”

The camera clone gave Kadroh a thumbs up and he clapped his hands happily.

Hordak looked around, confused. “What’s happening now?”

“Oh, don’t worry, Brother, it isn't live,” Kadroh laughed. “We’ll edit in Double Trouble’s segment later. Apparently Entrapta is going to be joining them to talk about her observations of our species’ biology!”

Hordak’s eye twitched. He hoped that meant something different to what he thought it did.

“Before we begin,” Kadroh said, leaning closer. “Are there any topics you would like me to avoid?”

“I don’t want to talk about Prime,” Hordak said quietly.

After the final battle, before the Princesses decided to separate them, a number of the newly freed clones had bombarded him with questions about Prime. What it felt like to be at his side. What it felt like to refuse him…What it felt like to be his ‘host’.

“Of course,” Kadroh nodded quickly. “We are here to talk about you, not Him.”

Double Trouble and another clone flitted around them, checking their makeup and moving some things around before retreating to their chair and giving Kadroh a signal.

“Are you ready, brother?” Kadroh asked with a big smile.

“I suppose.” Hordak growled back, thinking of all the other things he could be doing with his time.

Kadroh gave Double Trouble a thumbs up and they shouted “Action!” again.

“Welcome back!” Kadroh said with great enthusiasm, startling Hordak slightly. “Time for our guest of honor: Hordak!”.

The clones applauded excitedly, making Hordak feel incredibly awkward.

“Yes, Hello… I’ve been here for a while,” Hordak growled, unsure if he should wave back or something.

“So, Hordak, I’m sure it is no surprise that you are quite the inspiration to many of our kin,” Kadroh said, leaning back in his chair comfortably.

Hordak snorted loudly, almost breaking out in laughter. “An inspiration? My entire life has been a series of terrible decisions, all in service of crawling back to _Him_. I have not spent my ‘freedom’ well.”

“But it’s what you did after that which is inspirational!” Kadroh leaned forwards, waving his hands as he spoke. “After being given everything you strove for, returned to the fold, a place at Prime’s side! When the time came, you disobeyed!” He leapt to his feet. “You cast him down!”

Some of the clones cheered at this, a few jumping out of their seats.

Despite himself, he felt his ears perking upwards. He had considered his actions to have been pointless, considering the result. But it felt nice to be applauded for the effort.

“A lot of good it did me.” He grumbled, but Kadroh didn’t seem deterred.

“I think we can all understand your desperation to return,” Kadroh said kindly. “Adapting to ‘freedom’ has been a difficult process for all of us. And while your motives were bad, what you accomplished all alone on Etheria was very impressive!”

Double Trouble gestured wildly at Kadroh and he quickly turned to face the camera. “Just a reminder: while we can admire Hordak’s resolve and dedication, his actions should NOT be replicated! Establishing an evil empire to dominate your planet is an antisocial activity.”

“Nor was it particularly fulfilling,” Hordak remarked. It actually felt quite freeing to discuss his past actions so casually. “I did not make a lot of friends. I spent most of my time angry and alone, and even when I was winning things were distinctly... unsatisfying.”

“Thank you, Hordak. Do you have any suggestions of other professions our kin could pursue rather than ‘Evil Dictator’?” Kadroh asked.

Hordak considered for a few moments. “Perhaps a farmer? It is an… underrated profession. And the workers on my agricultural outposts always seemed to report high job satisfaction.”

Kadroh nodded, still smiling. “Excellent. Now, Hordak, you have a lot of experience.I was wondering if we could talk about what it was like for you when you were separated from the hive mind for the first time. What you felt and how you reacted?”

Hordak sighed, thinking back to his time in the Scorpion Kingdom. He was deeply ashamed of everything he did, but he felt surprisingly willing to speak about it here. Feeling like the other clones might understand why he made the mistakes he did.

“Well…” Hordak tried to collect his thoughts into something coherent. “I was defective, physically. As such I was sent off to die ‘nobly’ but I failed to do that, falling through a portal to Etheria. Which left me rather lost, both physically and mentally.”

Hordak felt a little surge of satisfaction as one of the clones chucked at his attempt at a ‘joke’.

“Everything was very strange at first, but it was… magical. I was experiencing new things, learning new things. I even began to feel.” Hordak lowered his head. “But with that came guilt and shame… and then anger. I was so angry at these kind people for causing me such confusion, for making me stray from my teachings.”

Hordak took a deep breath before continuing. “That's when I began to craft the fantasy… That I was someone special, that I could be redeemed and welcomed back to the home that had already rejected me. All I had to do was conquer and burn everything that threatened to make me feel anything but rage.”

“That kind of anger has been a fairly common response for our kin,” Kadroh said quietly. “All this change is scary and confusing. Lashing out is an unfortunate result of that. Is there anything you would like to say to those who are struggling the same way you did? Anything you wish you could have done differently?”

“I wish I had accepted their friendship. That I had tried a little harder to understand and to forget the hateful lies that sat within my head.” Hordak’s voice began to trail off as he spoke, his throat closing up.

He blinked quickly, hoping that he wouldn’t be shameful enough as to cry while being recorded.

“It's alright, take a moment,” Kadroh said comfortingly, reaching out a hand to Hordak.

Hordak noticed that some of the clones in the audience were sniffling and rubbing at their eyes, now coloured a deep purple. Entrapta would probably be fascinated by that.

Hordak clung to the thought of Entrapta, determined not to let himself spiral into self pity.

“Thankyou.” Hordak nodded at Kadroh. Taking a deep breath and straightening his shoulders. “I am quite capable of continuing.”

“Well, if I could ask one more question. Could we speak about Love?” Kadroh put his hands together, looking at Hordak intensely. “Love is a very important concept to Etherians. And many of the Princesses seemed to believe that we did not know what love is… But, rather unfortunately, we all know what it is to love.” Kadroh was silent for a few moments before continuing. “You, Hordak, have found love with another, have you not?”

Hordak smiled. Clearly Entrapta had been discussing things with Kadroh. Hopefully not in too much detail.

“Yes. Yes, I have,” he nodded proudly. “I have learned that there are many kinds of love. And while we loved Prime in our worship, he gave nothing back. True love is a partnership of equals. It requires communication and hard work. It is not easy, but it is worth it.” He took a deep breath, holding his head high. “I love Entrapta. And it has been the greatest experience of my life.”

Hordak stood, unable to contain the passion burning in his chest. “Love is a prize worth pursuing. Find someone you respect, and who respects you. Someone who makes you truly happy to be alive, to share your life with them, and don’t let anyone take them from you!”

The clones burst into applause and Hordak immediately felt a little silly for having such an outburst.

But then he saw Entrapta standing at the back of the room. She must have slipped in at some point after they started talking. She was silent, but she was staring at him with that look; the one that made sparks erupt in his heart, that cut through every attempt to forget her.

Hordak barely noticed Kadroh thanking him. The applause and all the other voices had faded away and he felt like he and Entrapta were the only ones in the room. Just staring at each other, their gaze saying more than any words.

The Feast was an exceptionally lavish affair. The clones had produced a spread that looked like it belonged on the royal tables of Brightmoon, not their simple mess hall.

There was a tower of tiny cupcakes and pastries, intricately shaped into cute little animals. Probably enough to send Entrapta into a coma if she tried to eat them all.

The other Islanders were ecstatic. Some of them had tears in their eyes as they viewed the food, shouting their thanks to the chefs.

Capra and Sizzle had brought their own fruit juice for the meal. Which Hordak thought was very nice, though he didn’t know when they found time to make it. The juice was a little too bitter for Hordak, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying it.

“Hordak, Baby!” Double Trouble sauntered past Hordak, a mug of juice in either hand. “Breaking out the good stuff! Or at least, what I assume _passes_ for ‘good’ on this… _charming_ island.”

Hordak didn’t understand what that meant. But he didn’t understand most of what they said, so he just smiled and nodded, feeling relieved when they moved on.

Hordak tried to play the role of the good host, moving around and ensuring all the clones and Islanders were interacting well. There didn’t seem to be any problems, but he noticed that the feast was rapidly becoming more and more rowdy.

Everyone was getting very loud. Loud enough to drown out the music Entrapta had playing on the Auto-Minstrel. Shouting, laughing and making jokes.

Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio were kissing in a manner that was absolutely inappropriate for a diplomatic function. Grizzlor had his shirt off and was armwrestling two clones at once and Pmal was standing on one of the tables, singing very loudly. Not even slightly in tune with the music.

“Hordak~” Entrapta called out from behind him, her voice playful. “Guess what I’m thinking aboooooout~”

Hordak turned around to see Entrapta wearing a pair of welding goggles that had been modified with glowing pink LEDs.

He opened his mouth but nothing came out, his brain momentarily failing him. It was a good colour on her. A really, really good colour.

Hordak felt a tightness in his crotch and quickly sat down, crossing his legs. That was **NOT** something that needed to happen in public.

“Entrapta… Please,” Hordak mumbled, trying to look away but finding it very difficult. “I need to… Do something.”

“Awwwww~” Entrapta pouted and hopped into Hordak’s lap. “But I thought of some new _experiments_ I really want to try.”

Hordak’s body was heating up, his hair starting to stand on end as he attempted to control his biological urges. “This gathering is getting out of control and I need to determine-”

“It’s probably all the booze.” Entrapta interrupted him matter-of-factly. Her hair snagged a mug off the table and she gave it a sniff before downing it. “The stuff Capra and Sizzle made isn’t very tasty, but it’s got a real kick to it!” She giggled, her hair getting a little curly. “I wish we had shot glasses, and jelly! That would be so cute!”

Hordak groaned. Of course, he should have assumed that someone would have started brewing their own liquor by now. Bootleg alcohol was another thing he had been unable to eliminate in the Horde. The denizens of Etheria seemed incredibly determined to find ways of giving themselves mild poisoning.

He looked around for Capra and Sizzle, but it seemed that team Alpha had already disappeared somewhere.

“BROTHER!” Kadroh boomed, appearing out of nowhere.

“I’m so sorry Kadroh.” Hordak spoke quickly, still squirming a little. “It appears some of my companions decided to-”

“This is wonderful!” Kadroh laughed, his cheeks flushed and ruddy. “On the mainland many people are still… ‘intimidated’ by our presence, but here our siblings have finally got to experience a true party! Loud, messy and carefree!”

“See!” Entrapta said excitedly. “It's fine! Everyones having fun, sooooo~...” She tugged at his robes, her hair curling around him.

“I- ah.” Hordak mumbled, feeling his resolve slipping. “Need to monitor…” He could feel his sensitivity increasing. The feeling of fabric shifting over his thighs as Entrapta wiggled in his lap becoming more and more distracting.

“Carpe Diem, Baby!” Double Trouble sang out, stumbling over to Kadroh’s side, winking at Hordak. “You aren’t the big boss anymore, why not relax a bit?”

“Indeed!” Kadroh raised his mug, “I shall chaperone our fellows! I am sure you have important scientific work to do.”

“Yes! Thanks, Kadroh!” Entrapta giggled, pulling Hordak to his feet and dragging him after her.

Hordak was still feeling a bit worried, but it was getting harder and harder to focus on anything but Entrapta. Surely nothing could go too wrong if they were to quietly slip away for a few minutes.

“YOU GET IT GIRL!” Double Trouble let out a loud whoop, making Hordak flush brightly as numerous sets of eyes turned to watch the two of them ‘sneaking’ away.

Hordak and Entrapta did not end up returning to the party that night.

While there was a lot of mess to clean up, everybody, clones and Islanders, seemed to have had a wonderful time.

There were no injuries, aside from Alice and Lowtail pulling a few muscles in a competition to see who could do pushups with the most clones on their backs.

Hordak cornered Capra and Sizzle the next morning. While they were both quite hungover, they seemed exceptionally happy with themselves.

They had apparently ‘borrowed’ some tools and equipment from the lab to construct a surprisingly complex and well-built pressurised distillation rig, which they had been filling with whatever random fruits they snuck back from their expeditions.

He gave them a mild chewing out for taking equipment without asking. But, mindful that nothing had gone wrong and of how happy Kadroh seemed with the whole event, decided to let them off with some thinly-veiled threats that if there were any problems due to overconsumption he would consider them responsible.

As most of the camp was still asleep, Hordak headed over to the mess hall to make himself some breakfast.

Double Trouble was there, sitting with a hot drink and staring off into the distance with a strange look on their face.

“Are you alright?” Hordak asked. He would have preferred to remain in silence, but expressing concern when a friend was behaving out of character was supposedly the polite thing to do.

“I am just processing the fact that you apparently got laid at a party while I did not.” Double Trouble shot Hordak a sly smirk. “I’d love to hear some details, it could really enhance my performances.”

Hordak’s ears flushed, flicking back defensively. “That’s not what you were talking to Entrapta about yesterday?”

“No,” Double Trouble let out a deep, dramatic sigh. “She was more concerned with eye colour and ear placement.” They suddenly looked at Hordak seriously. “Don’t get me wrong, that is all incredibly important for my work, but I do hunger for some juicy gossip.”

Hordak snorted, struggling to hold back a smile. “Well, you shall have to hunt down your own ‘juice’. I am a _gentleman_ , I do not ‘gossip’”

“Don’t worry, Darling, we’re here for another couple of days. I’ll get my fill,” Double Trouble said with a laugh. “There seems to be plenty of delicious _tension_ within your merry band.”

Hordak got himself some fruit, sitting down next to Double Trouble.

“This place is actually quite nice, you know,” Double Trouble said quietly, their voice free of their usual dramatic flair. “The facilities are a little lacking but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen them so happy. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few ask to stay.”

“I’m sure they will change their mind once they learn it’s not a party every day. There is a lot of work still to be done here, most of it dangerous.”

“Want to make a bet?” Double Trouble smiled a little sadly. “The Princesses have been trying to make the clones feel welcome but a lot of people are still suspicious of them. It’s understandable, I suppose,” they sighed. “They were occupying the planet for almost half a year, and it’s not like you’ve done much for your species’ reputation here.”

Hordak laughed bitterly. “I suppose not… I had hoped that they would not be forced to bear that responsibility. They were little more than drones under Prime’s control. He really could have replaced us completely if he didn’t need us there to stroke his ego.”

Double Trouble was silent for a while, letting Hordak eat in peace.

“Do you think you’ll ever have children?” Double Trouble asked suddenly, making Hordak choke on his food. “I mean, do you think it’s possible?”

“I- ah- Well.” Hordak sputtered, trying to regain his composure. He really hadn’t considered that at all; neither as a positive nor something they should be taking precautions against.

He thought for a few moments. There had to be a reason that they had sex organs, even if they weren’t supposed to use them. “I believe that it would have been an insult to Prime’s pride if we were not… Fully functional.”

A wide, toothy grin spread across Double Trouble’s face “So you DO have a dick!”

Hordak growled in frustration, half-heartedly tossing the rind of his fruit at Double Trouble.

“Oh, come on!” Double Trouble laughed. “Just a peek? For purely professional purposes?”

“Absolutely NOT!” Hordak scowled at Double Trouble in deep embarrassment. “Why don’t you ask Kadroh if you’re so interested?”

“Well you’re actually a bit of an anomaly, Darling.” Double Trouble rolled over on the table, flicking their tail back and forth. “None of the others have displayed any kind of sex drive. A few of them have had crushes, but no desire for physical intimacy.”

“That is… Interesting, I suppose,” Hordak mumbled, still feeling rather embarrassed by Double Trouble’s questioning. “Perhaps they haven’t found the right partner yet? I never experienced any such… feelings... until I became close to Entrapta.”

Double Trouble shuddered dramatically. “A whole race of obligate monogamists? That’s no fun.”

Hordak turned his nose up at Double Trouble, feeling a little insulted by that. “I can assure you, both Entrapta and I are quite satisfied with our current arrangement.”

“You can’t just say that and not give me details!” Double Trouble whined.

Hordak just walked out, a smug little smile on his face as Double Trouble called after him.

“Come on! Hordak? Darling? Please?”

Hordak wondered if Double Trouble was right about the clones wanting to stay. He hadn’t wanted them here, but it hadn’t been as bad as he expected.

He would just have to wait and see. At least there wasn’t any chance of Double Trouble staying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a while, had some bad brain days. But I've got some more side content coming up as well ;3.
> 
> Edit: [A little bit of smut](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25088479)
> 
> Double Edit: Nobody asked for this but [Team Alpha smut](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25105243)


	15. Hordak; Guidance Counselor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kadroh and Double Trouble's visit to the island comes to an end and Hordak is left with some new companions who he attempts to help settle in to their small community.

The next few days were surprisingly enjoyable for Hordak.

He had to engage in a few more verbal jousting matches with Double Trouble, but they were not entirely unpleasant.

Hordak was not exactly a master manipulator. He knew he could be easily led but he discovered that if he stayed mostly silent, Double Trouble would happily keep talking and fill in most of the conversation by themself.

He soon realised that Double Trouble wasn’t really trying to pry any deep secrets out of him; they just enjoyed talking and, as always, wanted an audience.

In this manner, he found out a lot about Double Trouble's relationship with Kadroh and the other clones.

Double Trouble apparently respected Kadroh quite a lot and genuinely enjoyed working with him. They did have a rather bitter feud with another actor named ‘Mr Horse’ (whom Hordak later discovered was actually a sock puppet, which was rather confusing) who kept stealing their punch lines. But they spoke about many of the clones at length, and with sincere warmth.

Hordak also learned a lot about the state of the outside world. Things were going well for the Princess Alliance, now the ‘United Kingdoms of Etheria’, though their work was not without difficulties.

Catra and Adora were on something Double Trouble had called a ‘Honeymoon’, using Prime’s ship to travel around some neighbouring solar systems and working to help stabilise communities where the Galactic Horde’s sudden dissolution had left a power vacuum.

Scorpia was making great progress building the new Scorpion Kingdom with Perfuma. Most of the remaining ex-Horde soldiers had happily accepted her offer of citizenship and were adapting to peacetime with relatively few incidents.

Hordak wished he could be there to help her. Not that he thought she couldn't do it without him. He was proud to hear that she was developing and maturing into a true leader.

He felt great guilt for what he had done to her and her people, and he knew that would never leave him. But it seemed a far more fitting penance to try and give some of that back to her, to undo the damage he had done so long ago.

He knew that was impossible, though. To have him return to the fright zone surrounded by his former soldiers, regardless of his intentions, would seem too much like a return to status quo for many. They would never be able to relax and accept peace with him there. The Princesses needed him far away; out of sight and out of mind.

Dryl was apparently doing well without it’s princess. Entrapta had never been very involved with the day to day running of things anyway. Most of the work managing the small kingdom was done by the Mining and Crafting unions, and they had plenty of work with all the rebuilding efforts requiring raw materials.

With the sudden influx of wealth they were apparently flourishing to such a degree to almost rival Brightmoon.

The clones were all very eager to help out while they were on the island. Hordak gave them a short tour of the base and they immediately volunteered for tasks wherever they could find them.

This sudden influx of extra hands allowed Hordak and Entrapta to deploy all the teams at once on various missions, finally beginning to make some real progress on their overall mission of ‘fixing’ Beast Island.

In the area around the base they had broken the main pollutants down into three classes.

First were radioactive materials. Mainly found in small amounts as components in old, First Ones tech.

Next was a self propagating substance that Entrapta had termed ‘Red Corruption’. It seemed to be an artificial, magical bacteria that ‘infected’ technology and other artificial materials.  
Entrapta had encountered this substance before, in the form of a First Ones artifact, and believed it to be a weapon intended to turn an enemies’ technology against them. But it had apparently run wild on the island; propagating itself within the abandoned equipment.

Third was an organic substance termed ‘Blue Corruption’, existing within the plants and soil of the island. Any organic material exposed to it (aside from the plants themselves, that seemed to exist in symbiosis with it) would decompose at a highly accelerated rate.

Hordak and Entrapta quickly devised protocols for dealing with the different substances and ways to safely store them.

The radioactive materials were carefully collected, bombarded with gamma rays to break them down into forms with a shorter half-life, and stored in thick metal barrels.

The Red Corruption was particularly troublesome. Even a small amount could quickly replicate itself when exposed to an appropriate substrate, causing any advanced technology or machinery to go wild. However, they discovered that it was completely inert to organic materials and could be handled safely with simple leather gloves and stored in wooden crates, carefully sealed with tree sap.

The Blue Corruption was the most immediately dangerous to handle, but the Foe armor’s heavy gauntlets were enough to keep the wearer safe from it’s degenerative effects. Once they developed a method of filtering it from contaminated soil, it could be stored in a similar manner to the radioactive material.

Actually destroying or safely neutralising the contaminates was another challenge. Hordak knew they would have to tackle it at some point, but for now, keeping them carefully stored in the large pit Grizzlor had dug was the best they could do.

The days seemed to fly by in a flurry of productivity. When Kadroh announced that they would be leaving, Hordak was actually quite sad to see them go.

All the Islanders assembled on the beach to say their goodbyes.

Hordak stood by Kadroh’s side, watching the clones and the Islanders talk and hug. Entrapta zipped around taking photos with her tablet.

“Thank you, brother!” Kadroh said, pulling Hordak into a tight hug. “This has been a wonderful experience for all of us, and we look forward to returning in the future to see your progress. I believe that this will grow into a marvelous place!”

“Just make sure you build a good bar before we get back.” Double Trouble smirked as Hordak struggled to escape his brother’s embrace. “With a stage, and maybe a spa.”

“I don’t believe those are essential facilities.” Hordak grumbled. “But we will hopefully be making things more comfortable once that becomes practical.”

Entrapta swooped over to them, grabbing Kadroh and Double Trouble with her hair and giving them a quick squeeze. “I wish you could stay longer! We’ve gotten so much done with you here!”

“We have been glad to be of service,” Kadroh said, patting Entrapta’s hair gently. “But we must continue on our grand tour! We are heading north next, to the beautiful Kingdom of Snows.”

“Make sure you bring a coat. It’s very cold there, but they throw great parties!” Entrapta released Kadroh and Double Trouble, moving to Hordak’s side as the clones began boarding the skiffs.

Kadroh insisted on giving Hordak some more supplies before they left, saying that they could restock at the Kingdom of Snows. He also left one of the ship’s skiffs with them.

Kadroh maintained that the skiff was broken so they had to leave it, but Hordak was pretty sure that was just a way of getting him to accept the gift. ‘Fixing’ the skiff would turn out to be as simple as reconnecting a few wires.

These were not the only things that they would be leaving behind. Double Trouble had been correct, and five of the clones had requested to be allowed to stay permanently.

Hordak spent some time talking with them all, making sure they understood what it would entail and that they were certain of their decisions. But they were all very enthusiastic and seemed to have thought things through so Hordak saw no reason to refuse them.

He did make the decision to try and keep the clones working within the base as much as possible, letting Entrapta and the other Team Leaders know that he didn’t want them to be involved in any combat situations.

This was not because he believed them incapable, but because he knew how eager to be useful they were, and how hard it could be for them to say no.

As such he didn’t think they were truly capable of consenting to putting themselves in danger. Which, in his burgeoning understanding of ‘morality’, seemed wrong.

When the choice was placed before them, some of the clones already had a clear idea of what kind of duties they would like to perform.

Piidak was the clone who had spoken up so enthusiastically about the art of cooking on their first day.

He was a bit of an odd sort. Seeming unconcerned with his appearance, unlike many of the other clones, he had made no attempt to customise his hair or eye colour and wore an apparently random mix of clothing.

He was, however; very quick to get excited and launch into passionate and verbose rants, especially on the subject of food. He gave Hordak a particularly stirring sermon on how he believed it to be his destiny to become their Chef and provide them with ‘real’ food.

Hordak hadn’t thought there was anything wrong with rotating the cooking duties, but Piidak was insistent that they needed a dedicated Chef and after he mentioned his talent for cooking compact and nutritious foods like dumplings and mini-pastries, Hordak agreed to give him full command of the kitchen.

Acacia and Wonder were both deeply fascinated with the island's unique plant life, having been introduced to gardening by Perfuma. Though they were exceedingly different individuals.

Acacia was a very quiet sort, with brown hair and eyes who didn’t talk much and preferred to use She/Her pronouns.

Wonder, on the other hand, was… _Intense_. He had bright blue eyes and flaming red hair, spiked up into an impressive crest. He was (Hordak noted with some jealousy) quite muscular for a clone and seemed to enjoy showing this off, wearing colourful kilts and nothing else.

But they seemed quite capable of working well together, and enthusiastically requested to attempt to cultivate some of the island's edible plants.

Hordak quickly decided that he quite liked Demroh, though the clone’s fashion sense was a little questionable. They seemed to have a large collection of brightly coloured shirts with festive designs and very short shorts. But they had a real passion for science and learning, with a focus on biology.

After some discussion, they decided that Demroh would take up post in the camp's infirmary. While Rogelio and Bo were decent field medics, it would be good to have a full time doctor to monitor people's health.

The final clone was named Branch. He liked to wear long dresses, which Hordak approved of, and had bright yellow eyes that Hordak found quite endearing, reminding him of Imp.

Branch was very affable and social and had apparently already made friends with all of the Islanders, but getting him to talk about himself was rather difficult. Hordak didn’t enjoy talking about himself either, but no matter what questions he asked, Branch would somehow turn the conversation on its head and leave Hordak talking about his own interests.

Hordak wanted to ensure that each of the clones found something they were passionate about and that would be fulfilling for them.

Now that they had placed themselves in his care he felt responsible for their development as individuals and wanted to nurture their developing passions.

But Branch seemed to honestly be a bit of a blank slate and Hordak found himself struggling to help him make any kind of decision.

Eventually, Hordak decided that giving Branch some practical experience would be the best approach, and asked him to assist Entrapta and him in their lab.

The next day was an exceptional test of Hordak’s patience.

Branch was certainly competent enough, he was intelligent and grasped new concepts quickly, but keeping him focused was a challenge. And when he lost focus he tended to drag everyone else along with him.

He would ask Entrapta questions constantly, prompting her into long info-dumps. While Hordak loved listening to Entrapta talk, this also caused her to stop what she was doing and often get ‘inspired’, dropping her current project and moving on to another, leaving all of them half-finished.

Kyle was easily distracted by questions about Rogelio and Lonnie. Listening to his flowery, sappy prose about how wonderful his partners were was much less enjoyable for Hordak.

Even Pmal, who normally detested interruptions while working, was not immune to his charms; getting lured into conversations about growing up in the Horde and how she was finding life on the island.

Hordak had assumed that he would be above such distractions. But it turned out that Branch had also read some of the ‘Benny Bear’ books and before Hordak knew it he was in the middle of an intense discussion about the themes within the series.

Everyone was happy and had enjoyed having Branch around, but it was clear that he wasn’t particularly interested in what they were doing and that no one was going to accomplish anything with him around.

“So, engineering is not for you,” Hordak said to Branch as they sat down together after dinner.

Imp seemed to have noticed Hordak’s frustration and had planted himself in his lap, silently chewing on a dumpling.

“Well, I enjoyed spending time with you all.” Branch said happily, his ears upright and perky. “But just fiddling with machines all day is a bit boring.”

“That’s alright.” Hordak held himself back from pointing out that Branch had barely touched a tool, stroking Imp’s hair to calm himself. “So… You named yourself Branch, do you like plants?”

“I suppose so.” Branch replied, not sounding very sure of himself. “I went to some of Perfuma’s gardening classes and they were quite relaxing.”

“Well, how about you help Acacia and Wonder tomorrow? They are doing… something gardening related, I’m sure they would appreciate the help.”

“I think I could do that,” Branch nodded. “Growing food is pretty important, isn’t it? It would be nice to do something that helps everyone like that!”

“Perfect,” Hordak sighed in relief. He knew that he was grasping at straws with this but it seemed like the best he could do for now. “I will let them know that you will be joining them.”

“Thank you, Hordak.” Branch said, giving Hordak a smile that was far warmer and more natural-looking than any he had managed. “I really appreciate you spending so much time with me, I really want to find something I can do to contribute to the camp.”

“You are welcome.” Hordak really meant it. Despite his frustration, he found it hard to dislike Branch. “But don’t forget, this is not just about how you can be of use to others, but to find something that you find fulfilling.”

“I know,” Branch said softly, his eyes beginning to grow tinged with a soft, light blue. “But I really do like helping people, it makes me feel happy when I see people smile.”

“Well, that is commendable.” Hordak said awkwardly. Branch’s emotional sincerity made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Empathy was something that Hordak was still working on developing, and it had taken him a long time to come as far as he had. 

He could care about people's happiness in a logical sense, but aside from Entrapta, it was difficult for him to really feel for them. Whereas this young, fledgling clone seemed to have embraced these emotions with ease.

It made Hordak wonder if some of his past mistakes could really be explained by his history, or if he was simply a bad person.

“You should get some rest,” Hordak said, wanting to wrap the conversation up. “Acacia and Wonder have been getting up very early.”

“Oh, yes!” Branch clapped his hands excitedly, “I really enjoy sleeping, don’t you? It’s so wasteful and indulgent.”

“I suppose so,” Hordak grumbled. He was certainly starting to feel quite tired.

“And to dream… It’s so strange to have things happen that aren’t real. What do you dream about?”

Hordak tensed up, resisting the urge to just yell at Branch to get out. Thankfully, Branch seemed to notice his discomfort immediately.

“I’m sorry, that's a very personal question, isn’t it?” Branch smiled apologetically, standing up and getting ready to leave. “Dreams aren’t always nice. But if you ever want to talk about it…” He lingered for a few moments longer before bidding Hordak goodnight and heading off to his quarters.

“Keep an eye on him for me, would you?” Hordak said to Imp once Branch had left. “He deserves to be happy here. Probably a lot more than I do.”

Imp let out an indignant chirp, looking up at Hordak with his nose scrunched up in concentration.

“Hordak is - great. He cares.” Imp said in Octavia’s voice, the words slightly choppy.

“Good.” “Dad!” Imp continued with another couple of short snippets before repeating Hordak’s own words back to him. “-Deserves to be happy-”

“I cannot believe you would attack me like this.” Hordak growled, struggling not to choke on the sudden lump in his throat. “My own son.”

“Imp - Is - Son.” Imp ‘said’, his ears and tail wiggling happily.

“Yes, don’t sound so smug about it.” Hordak picked Imp up by the back of his harness. “I think it’s time for you to go to bed, as well.”

Things were much quieter and more productive without Branch there, but Hordak still wasn’t able to concentrate fully.

Once he finally finished working on the instruments that Demroh had requested, Hordak headed out to where Acacia and Wonder had been planning out their new garden.

He saw Acacia and Wonder immediately. Wonder was hard to miss, the sun glistening blindingly off the thick sheen of sweat coating his body.

Acacia, however, looked completely normal, so Hordak wasn’t exactly sure what was going on there.

They had constructed a number of very low square walls and apparently filled them up with dirt. Hordak wasn’t sure how making the ground higher was beneficial for the plants, but he trusted that they knew a bit more than he did.

“BROTHER!” Wonder boomed, giving Hordak an overly dramatic wave that seemed more like an excuse to flex.

“Hello, Hordak,” Acacia said as Hordak approached them. “We’ve just finished the raised beds, we got the dirt from an area that Entrapta said had been purified, and all of the camp's food waste has been decomposing nicely. We wanted to make a worm farm, but it turns out all the worms here are carnivorous.” She held up her heavily bandaged hands with an embarrassed smile. “So we’re just sticking with composting, I’m sorry, I hope that’s good enough,” her ears drooped downwards. “And I’m sorry we haven’t gotten anything planted yet.”

“There’s no need to be sorry,” Hordak said quickly. “I’m not here to check your progress or anything, and I assure you whatever pace you work at will be better than anything anyone else here could manage. I’m just here to see Branch… Wherever he is.”

“Oh, he’s just over there with Imp.” Wonder pointed over to where Branch was sitting on a chair in the shade. Imp perched on his shoulder, sipping a mug of juice.

“Branch!” Hordak called out. “You didn’t get that juice from Capra, did you?”

“I squeezed it myself!” Branch replied with a wave.

“Yes, he brought us all some. It was very nice,” Acacia said.

“Did he manage to help you with anything else?” Hordak asked, noticing that while Acacia and Wonder had quite a bit of mud on them, Branch’s long, flowing dress of the day was totally clean.

“Well, he brought us lunch,” Wonder said with a shrug.

“Please don’t be angry at him,” Acacia interjected quickly.

“Acacia, really,” Hordak took Acacia’s hand in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. “No one is getting in trouble, we’re just trying to find what works for Branch. And please remember, you aren’t working for me, we are all working together. As equal individuals.”

“Ah, of course. I’m sorry.” Acacia winced as she realised she was apologising again. “I mean... sorry, it’s a kind of automatic reaction.”

“I understand.” Hordak gave Acacia a brisque nod and quickly headed over to Branch.

“So,” He asked. “How was it?”

Branch sighed, his ears drooping. “Well, there’s a lot of dirt, and rotten stuff. I thought I could just wait and help them with something less… Filthy.”

“Too much... Dirt?” Hordak raised an eyebrow.

“Yes!” Branch seemed to be a mix of embarrassed and indignant. “It’s full of germs and bacteria! And worms that try to bite your fingers off!”

Hordak sighed. He knew they all had an artificially powerful immune system protecting them from practically any disease. Something that allowed them to travel between planets without risk of infection. Though the point about the worms seemed fair.

“I believe most work with plants involves dirt in some capacity.”

“To be honest, I didn’t really pay attention in Perfuma’s classes,” Branch said, looking a little dejected.

“Nothing to worry about,” Hordak tried his best to sound encouraging. He didn’t want to dwell on their failures; he was trying to help Branch after all, not damage his confidence. “This is an experiment and we are merely gathering additional information. You brought them lunch, did you not? Perhaps you would enjoy working in the kitchen? It is much cleaner, or at least it should be.”

“Well, I’ve only really made snacks before,” Branch said thoughtfully. “Nothing too complicated, but I would like to give it a try!”

Branch’s foray into the culinary arts was not long-lived.

He didn’t manage to make it through breakfast before Imp came rushing to inform Hordak that he was being rushed off to the infirmary.

Apparently, he hadn’t been paying attention while chopping some vegetables and had almost cut one of his fingers off.

After listening to Piidak complain about how he had to clean up all the blood, Hordak suggested that Branch should just stay in the infirmary for the rest of the day and help out there.

It seemed to check off everything on the list; helping people, clean, lacking in knives. And Hordak hoped that Demroh might be able to keep Branch focused.

Everything was quiet for the rest of the day and Hordak had quite high hopes as he went to check on Branch in the evening.

The infirmary wasn’t a large building. It didn’t need to be, considering their small population. But it was very clean and orderly.

There were a few currently empty beds and all of the supplies were carefully organised in order of how often they were required.

Thankfully, they were still well-stocked in most of the basics. Hordak had made sure to bring an abundance of bandages, painkillers and other such essentials, as it would probably be some time before they could produce such things themselves.

One new addition he hadn’t noticed before was a large note in Grizzlor’s handwriting, reading ‘Use Protection, Or Perish!” with a crude sketch of Imp below it.

Demroh had set up their small ‘lab’ in one of the corners of the room and seemed to be occupied staring through a microscope. Branch was… Face down on the floor, with Imp perched on his back.

Hordak took a deep breath and rubbed his temples before clearing his throat to attract Demroh’s attention.

“Cough medicine is in the second cabinet from the left, first drawer,” Demroh said, not looking up from their work.

“What happened to Branch?” Hordak asked, deciding to be more direct.

“He continued to attempt to initiate conversation,” Demroh grumbled, turning to Hordak reluctantly. “I gave him a sedative.”

“That's not…” Hordak groaned, hanging his head in defeat. “Please do not do that again. It’s a waste of resources.”

Demroh gave a grunt of agreement and turned back to their microscope.

“This is the kind of thing you were supposed to inform me about, to be clear.” Hordak said to Imp as he rolled Branch over and attempted to rouse him.

“Do you ever wonder what microbes are thinking about?” Imp said in Branch’s voice. “What kind of hopes and dreams do they have in their tiny world? As unable to comprehend us as we are- What's in that syringe?”

Hordak picked Branch up and moved him to one of the beds. Having a long think while he waited for him to wake up.

“Oh, hello Hordak,” Branch said groggily as he finally began to stir, sitting up and rubbing his head. “Did something happen?”

“Best not to think about it,” Hordak said, scowling at Demroh. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I think so,” Branch yawned and stretched, sitting upright. “I don’t think I managed to get anything done though.” He gave Hordak an embarrassed smile, but Hordak could tell it wasn’t genuine. Branch’s droopy, downturned ears contradicted his casual expression.

“I believe I have been going about this the wrong way. Trying to push you into things without considering your strengths.”

“I’m not sure I really have too many of those,” Branch laughed quietly.

“Incorrect,” Hordak said sternly. “You are very good at talking to people and getting them to open up. Well, most people.” He shot another frustrated glance at Demroh. “You are empathic and friendly and you make people feel comfortable.”

“But those things aren’t exactly skills,” Branch said with a frown. “Not like cooking or building things.”

“I think they are, in fact, very valuable skills,” Hordak continued. “And I wanted to know if you would consider becoming the camp’s counselor. I think it would benefit everyone greatly to have someone to talk to when they need it.”

“Is that all I would have to do?” Branch looked interested but a little confused. “Just talk to people?”

“Well, talking and listening. Basically you would be there to help people discuss their emotions and deal with stress, listen if they have any problems and give them an outlet to talk about difficult subjects. One very important aspect is that you would need to be someone they can trust, unless you have serious concerns for their safety, anything you talk about would need to be kept completely private.”

“I can do that! I’m great at keeping secrets!” Branch said excitedly, his ears perking up. “Double Trouble told me-” he cut himself off quickly, giving Hordak a smug smile. “Well, I can’t tell you, because it’s a secret.”

“Perfect,” Hordak said with a chuckle. “We can set up one of the tents as a private office and see how things go.”

Branch leapt into his new role with great enthusiasm. While things were slow at first, all of the Islanders quickly embraced the new service at their disposal and before long Branch’s schedule was completely booked up.

Hordak felt a little worried that he might have made a mistake, as this seemed to cause a bit of instability in the group, with more than a few emotional outbursts. But it soon became apparent that this was just the result of finally getting to unpack certain issues and once this cooled down all of the team leaders were reporting a positive increase in morale and general mental health.

Branch was very happy as well, finally having found his niche and was walking around with an almost visible glow.

Hordak was relieved that he could finally get back to focusing on his work. Though he had to admit he did feel a certain ‘warmth’ himself.

Not just the satisfaction of solving the ‘problem’, it felt… Nice, to know that he had managed to make someone happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sad that Kadroh and DT have to go, but it's fun to write Hordak trying to be a good 'Big Brother' and look after his fellows.   
> He has grown a lot, even if he doesn't recognise it.
> 
> Also, finally making progress on actually cleaning up Beast Island! Don't forget to wash your hands after touching the weaponized nanomachines!


	16. Grizzlor’s Odyssey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Gamma goes fishing.
> 
> Things don't go quite according to plan.

Grizzlor was a military man. Always had been.

Even before joining the Horde. He grew up as part of a small Beastman militia. Waging a largely futile resistance against the Kingdoms that were steadily expanding into their territory, pushing them further from ‘civilisation’.

And one of the most important things he had learned was that an army marches on its stomach.

The quality of food on the island had increased once they started harvesting bugs to add a regular source of protein to their diet. And it had increased even further when the clones arrived and Piidak had become ‘Head Chef’. It felt like they were eating real, home cooked meals now, not just army rations.

But insect protein was particularly lean and Grizzlor had noticed that he was starting to lose some of his carefully cultivated bulk.

Most of the work they did on the island was quite physical, requiring endurance as well as raw strength, so Grizzlor decided to head down to the kitchens and ask Piidak if there was any way they could add more fat to their diet.

As any red meat from the island seemed to be off limits, Piidak suggested fish as an appropriate supplement.

This seemed a good idea to Grizzlor. Animals on the island were inedible, but fish weren’t ‘on’ the island, so they should be safe.

At first Grizzlor thought about asking Octavia to do the fishing. But he wasn’t sure if that could be construed as racist, and Octavia was very quick to take offence, so he decided that his team could handle it themselves.

It didn’t seem like it would be that hard; they could take the skiff out to get some distance from the island and then all they had to do was throw out a net and haul in the fish.

Crafting the net was time-consuming but not difficult.

The giant spiders that had started lurking outside the camp’s walls produced silk that was lightweight and extremely strong, and Entrapta had already harvested a decent amount of it for experimentation.

They recruited some help from Lowtail and Pmal (who had much smaller, nimbler fingers than Grizzlor and Alice) and sat down for a day of careful braiding and weaving.

It was very fiddly and a little frustrating at times. But it was nice to take a break.

The end result wasn’t as neat as Grizzlor might have hoped, but it seemed serviceable.

Grizzlor woke up long before dawn the next day. He carefully packed a bag with food, first aid supplies, plenty of water and some bugs to use as bait, before dragging Alice and Trako out of bed. Literally, in Trako’s case.

Wearing their armor seemed unnecessary and would just be a hazard if they fell overboard, so they were all wearing their old, casual Horde clothes.

Alice had also lost a bit of weight on the Island, but she still barely managed to fit in her XXL jacket. She was big, even for a Tauren Beastman. Standing a head taller than Grizzlor, with bulging muscles, red skin and curved black horns that gave her a rather demonic appearance. Completely ruined by the goofy grin plastered across her face.

Trako looked absolutely miniscule next to Alice. Short and lean with a floppy mop of blonde hair.

Grizzlor didn’t understand why some Humans were so tiny. Looking at Trako with their small fragile body it seemed ridiculous that they were the dominant species of the planet.

But Trako had been proven to be a useful team member, they were a skilled marksman and were quite intelligent when they weren’t playing the fool. Though Grizzlor was pretty sure they were responsible for the streaks of grey starting to appear in his mane.

Trako was excited to be out on the water, eagerly taking the tiller and guiding the skiff out to sea. They immediately brought the skiff up to top speed, skimming it off every wave they could hit and sending them bouncing around violently.

Alice was less enthusiastic. She just ate her breakfast before leaning up against the back of the skiff and immediately falling back to sleep. Unconcerned by Trako’s antics.

Once they got a decent distance out they found a spot where some birds were circling and got ready.

They soon realised that there was more of an art to casting the net and getting it to fan out properly than they thought. So they tied the handline to the bow and Grizzlor and Alice took turns making some practice casts. Trako being not quite strong enough to lift the heavy, weighted net.

Grizzlor was digging some snacks out of the pack when Alice called out excitedly.

“Dad! Hey, Dad, I got something!”

Alice had started calling Grizzlor ‘Dad’ when he was her commanding officer back in the Horde. He hated affectionate nicknames in general, but this one seemed particularly hurtful. To be fair he was old enough to be her father, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be reminded of the fact.

Trako had started using it as well, but only when they were being annoying.

“Are you sure?” Grizzlor grumbled, not looking up. “We haven’t even cast the bait yet.”

“Yeah! It’s something big!”

Grizzlor looked over to see Alice hauling on the line, leaning over the edge of the skiff.

He was about to get up and help her when Trako’s head broke the surface, their face split with a mischievous grin.

“What?” Alice glanced over her shoulder before glaring down at Trako. “You jerk! You’ll scare away the fish!”

Trako grabbed the line and jerked it, pulling Alice into the water with a tremendous splash.

Grizzlor sighed as the two splashed around, Trako cackling as Alice tried to grab them.

“May I remind you that you are both supposed to be adults? On an important mission?” Grizzlor growled, holding back a smile.

“Awwww, come on, Dad,” Trako grinned at Grizzlor. “What you gonna do, send us to Beast Island?”

“Hey! Trako, respect!” Alice barked, grabbing Trako and dunking him under the water.

“Maybe I’ll just let the two of you swim back?” Grizzlor rolled his eyes. They were still kids really, it couldn’t hurt to let them have a little fun.

Alice peered at the distant blip of Beast Island on the horizon. “I could do that.” She said seriously.

“Yeah, and I’ll ride on your back,” Trako snickered. “Like a whale.”

“Jokes on you, idiot!” Alice laughed. “Whales are powerful and majestic.”

Grizzlor was about to sit back down and let them get it out of their system when he saw a large, dark shape in the water, heading towards them at high speed.

“Get out now!” Grizzlor shouted, rushing to the edge of the skiff.

“Yes, sir.” Trako sighed, moving slowly.

Alice however noted the urgency in Grizzlor’s voice and grabbed Trako, heaving them up out of the water and into Grizzlor’s arms. The force of the throw pushed her down under the water and she had just enough time to see a dark blur before it slammed into her.

Alice had never been one to panic. Her squadmates back in the Horde had joked that she was too stupid to feel fear.

They weren’t completely wrong, Alice just had no real comprehension of the finality of death. She had never died before, so she didn’t see any reason to be worried about it.

As such she reacted quite calmly to the situation. The creature, which looked more like a giant carp with too many eyes than a shark, had bitten down on her shoulder; her left arm down its throat.

It’s teeth were long and sharp and she could feel them digging deep into her flesh, scraping her bone with an uncomfortably numb pressure.

It was swimming downwards rapidly, dragging her deep under the water.

She wasn’t going to lose a fight with a fish, but if she couldn’t breathe that could be a problem. She placed her thumb over one of its eyes, gripping its rough scales and gouging into it, digging her thumb through the thick membrane, feeling it tear and pop.

It seemed to feel it, from the way it began thrashing around violently, tangling itself in the net’s handline. But it wasn’t letting go. So she tightened her grip and slammed her horns into its side, tearing through its scales and filling the water with a cloud of blood.

It finally let her go and she started to kick towards the surface. Then she felt a sharp tug on her leg and she started going backwards. Confused, she looked back to see the handline looped around her back. The fish was still tangled in the net, swiping away and pulling her after it.

She tried to reach down, but she was moving too fast, the water rushing past her, buffeting her body.

Her body felt weak and sluggish. The Creature’s thrashing had knocked the last of the air out of her lungs and her chest was starting to burn.

 _”This sucks.”_ she thought. Losing to a fish would be really embarrassing, Trako would probably make fun of her. And Grizzlor would be really disappointed.

She kept trying to swim up, confused by how helpless she was. She had beat the fish, which meant she was stronger. She had won. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

She could feel herself getting weaker, the urge to breathe building until she sucked in a lungful of seawater, a burning, crushing pain flooding her body as her vision faded.

Back on the skiff, Grizzlor rushed to the edge, his heart skipping a beat as he saw the blood in the water. He was about to dive in when the hand line suddenly snapped taut and the skiff lurched forwards, the prow kicking up a spray of water as the skiff’s engine struggled to keep it hovering above the water.

Grizzlor peered into the water, spotting Alice’s body through the spray. She was struggling weakly, but she was alive.

“Start the skiff!” Grizzlor yelled as he grabbed the handline, pulling with all his strength. “We need to get some slack in the line!”

Grizzlor struggled to try and haul Alice in. The creature was dragging them along at a breakneck speed, and Alice’s bulk wasn’t helping either.

Trako managed to get the skiff going and pushed it to the limit, racing to try and get ahead of the creature, giving Grizzlor enough slack to pull Alice above the water.

By the time Grizzlor managed to drag her back onto the skiff she wasn’t moving anymore.

“Cut the line!” Grizzlor shouted at Trako as he began chest compressions.

“But the net-”

“Just cut it!” Grizzlor kept pumping, little bits of water dripping from Alice’s lips.

She was motionless, not even twitching as Grizzlor felt a rib break beneath his hands. But he wouldn’t give up, he wasn’t going to let this big idiot die, not on his watch.

Finally, he slammed his fists down on her chest and she convulsed violently, hacking up a deluge of water before taking a few shuddering breaths.

“Oh, hey, Dad.” Alice groaned groggily, “Whats up?” She coughed up a few more splutters of water before struggling to sit up.

Grizzlor let out a deep sigh. Alice might not actually be his daughter, but seeing her lying there, pale and still; it felt like she was. “Stay down, soldier, just breathe. Trako, get me the med kit.”

Alice’s wounds didn’t look too bad. The creature's teeth had been long and sharp, but thin. Leaving ragged punctures rather than gaping cuts. But they were still bleeding, and there could be internal damage that he couldn’t see.

“Did I win?” Alice coughed.

“Yeah, you won.” Grizzlor snorted in amusement as Alice beamed happily. She seemed far more concerned about her ‘victory’ than the fact that she had basically been dead a few moments ago.

“Ahhh, Grizz,” Trako said nervously. “Where’s the med kit?”

“It’s in the bag!” Grizzlor growled, he wasn’t in the mood for Trako’s games right now.

“Which bag?”

Grizzlor spun around, ready to chew Trako out when he saw that the bag was gone. It must have fallen while they were being dragged along by the creature.

The bag that contained all of their supplies, and the tracker-pad he was using to navigate.

Grizzlor scanned the horizon, seeing no sign of Beast Island. He wasn’t sure what direction the creature had pulled them in, or how far.

“Fuck,” Grizzlor groaned.

“We can still get back right?” Trako looked to Grizzlor hopefully. Their usual glib confidence giving way to genuine fear.

“Of course,” Grizzlor said quickly. A good leader had to be confident, decisive and never let anyone see them panic.

The sun hung directly above them, providing no help. But four of Etheria’s moons were still out, and from them Grizzlor could tell that they just needed to head west. Or was it east?

Grizzlor cursed under his breath. He used to be able to navigate anywhere by the moons, but he had been relying on Horde tech for too long. He couldn’t remember if Phlebas or Gamatra was in retrograde at this time of year, or which of the smaller moons should be the centre of the arrangement.

“Take us out that way.” Grizzlor said confidently, pointing in what he hoped was the right direction.

Trako quickly obeyed and Grizzlor started tearing up his shirt to make some make-shift bandages.

“Don’t stress, Dad,” Alice said with a smile, slowly pushing herself upright. “It’s just a nibble, no dumb fish is gonna beat me!”

Grizzlor smiled at Alice’s tenacity, but her cheeks had faded to a pale pink, and her breathing was still rough and laboured.

They continued on for a while, Trako piloting much more smoothly as they skimmed across the featureless ocean.

“Hey! Hey! I see the island!” Trako shouted excitedly, pointing at a dot on the horizon.

Grizzlor quickly told Trako to head towards it, the tension in his chest unwinding slightly.

However, Grizzlor's relief faded as they got closer to the island. It quickly became clear that it was not Beast Island. It was far too green and natural looking.

But they could see a few plumes of smoke rising from the coast, so they continued on. Any berth was better than none right now. And maybe whoever was there could help them get home.

They circled the skiff around until they saw what looked like a small village. There was a cluster of huts and a number of low, wooden sailboats pulled up on the beach.

Grizzlor found himself growing hopeful again as they approached the beach slowly. If there was an actual community here they must have medical supplies, food, and hopefully knowledge of the surrounding area.

By the time they reached the beach a small crowd had formed. Humanoids, wearing rough leather clothing and large, palm leaf hats.

Grizzlor raised his hands and took a step forwards, opening his mouth to speak as the assembled figures leapt backwards.

“Horde soldiers!!” One of them yelled.

“What? No-” Grizzlor started to speak when a blowdart thudded into his chest. “Please! We just need hel-” Another half a dozen darts hit Grizzlor in the neck and shoulder and he felt a wave of numbness wash over him, his legs crumpling beneath him and sending him collapsing onto the wet sand.

“How did they find us?” Grizzlor heard more voices as he struggled to stay conscious.

“What are we going to do?” They sounded more scared than angry, clearly panicking.

Grizzlor regained consciousness slowly, finding himself in a small, dark room. His hands and legs bound tightly behind his back with thick, woven vines.

As his eyes adapted to the darkness he saw Alice and Trako beside him, similarly tied up.

The crude strips of fabric Grizzlor had used to bind Alice’s wounds had been replaced with clean cloths, which gave him some hope. Perhaps this was just a misunderstanding, they could be reasoned with.

“What the fuck?” Trako groaned, struggling against his bindings. “What the fuck??” He rolled over to look at Grizzlor. “Do these assholes not know the war is over?”

“Maybe not.” Grizzlor replied. “There aren’t many ships that come out here, they’re probably pretty isolated.”

“Maybe they’re just being nice.” Alice said groggily, still face down on the ground. “I don’t hurt anymore.”

“Yeah, they’re real generous with the anesthetics.” Trako snapped back at her. “Probably gonna eat us or something.”

“If they were going to kill us they would have done it instead of tying us up,” Grizzlor said calmly.

“Well, I don’t like being tied up much either.” Trako gritted their teeth and lifted their arms up over their head, popping their shoulder out and bringing their hands down in front of them.

“Urgh, are they doing that gross thing?” Alice groaned as Trako’s shoulder popped loudly.

“If you mean getting us out of here, then yes.” Trako quickly loosened the knots around their wrists with their teeth before working on freeing their legs. “I say we steal whatever we can grab and then get the hell out of here before we get put on a spit.”

“I think we should try and be diplomatic about this,” Grizzlor said. “Think about it. These people are practically our neighbours, it could benefit all of us if we can form some kind of mutual agreement.”

“Happy neighbour~ Friendly neighbour~” Alice hummed one of the songs from Kadroh’s show, clearly still affected by whatever drugs they had been shot with.

Trako grumbled as they started to free Grizzlor, clearly not convinced.

“We don’t have to be stupid about it, but we should give them a chance.” Grizzlor said firmly.

Once they were all free, Grizzlor wrapped the vines back around his arms and legs, loosely looping them in place.

“Let them think they have us and we can see what they want.” He said, indicating for Trako and Alice to do the same.

After waiting for a while, the door finally opened and a group of people entered the room.

They were all humans, dressed the same as those they encountered on the beach and holding spears. They were all quite healthy looking. Tall, with bronzed brown skin and the thick muscles of someone used to hard labor.

Silently, they slashed the vines around the trio’s legs, thankfully not noticing that they were no longer tied, and pulled them to their feet.

“We did not mean to scare you.” Grizzlor said, slowly and calmly. “But the Horde is no more, we do not need to be enemies.”

“Shut up.” One of the men snapped, poking Grizzlor with his spear.

“You can speak to Chief Bramblestar,” One of the others said, pushing them forwards. “She’ll decide your fate.”

They managed to get a good look at the village as their guards marched them through it. 

The buildings were simple but sturdy. They didn’t seem to have any technology more advanced than their fishing boats, but seemed to be prosperous. There were overflowing racks of fish and red meat drying in the sun, and all the people they saw, watching them from a fearful distance, seemed healthy and well fed.

The guards led them to a large, wooden longhouse. Inside, the walls and floor were blanketed with thick, furred hides and sitting atop a throne of tusks and antlers was an ancient looking Magicat.

Her fur was white, shot through with little wisps of grey and her face was heavily lined. Her body was painfully thin, almost looking like a corpse propped up in her seat before she moved.

“You look surprised, Horde Scum.” Bramblestar snickered, noticing the shocked look on his face. “Did you think you wiped us all out?”

“Of course not.” Grizzlor sneered, baring his teeth at her. “Your people have always been good at running and hiding.”

Magicats had always been the most respected of the Beastman tribes. While Grizzlor and his kin were called savage and stupid, the Magicats were ‘noble’, ‘cunning’ and ‘wise’.

The source of this respect was mostly due to their natural talents for sorcery. The Magicat’s plied their trade far more practically and freely than the cloistered sorcerers of Mystacor and as such they were welcomed wherever they went by people hoping to receive blessings and useful magics.

Regardless of the reasons for this privilege, Grizzlor resented them for it.

When the Horde was just beginning, the Magicats were the first ones to stand against them. 

They saw the other Beastman and the Reptilians flocking to Hordak’s banner and tried to stop them before they could gain power. They didn’t want a revolution; they were happy with how things were.

The Horde had struck back against them brutally, and it had given Grizzlor some satisfaction that the other Kingdoms had only begun to join the fight once it was already too late for the Magicats.

The Magicats had expected their support, but the Queens and Princesses didn’t see it as their problem until the Horde began to threaten them directly.

“Uhhh, Dad, I thought we were trying diplomacy?” Alice muttered to Grizzlor as Bramblestar hissed at him angrily.

“Silence, Swine!” Bramblestar snarled. “I don’t know how you found us, but you will not get a chance to report back.”

“I promise, we are no threat to you. We didn’t come looking for you, and we have no one to report back to,” Grizzlor spoke quickly, trying to salvage things. “The Horde is gone, the war is over.”

Bramblestar regarded Grizzlor coldly. “We have been in hiding for fifteen years, to protect our lives and our children from your Horde, and you think I’m going to believe the first pig that stumbles across us? While you wear their colours and pilot their machines?”

“Fifteen years…” Grizzlor said quietly. “After Star Hart then?”

“After you destroyed it,” Bramblestar snarled.

Grizzlor chuckled bitterly. Star Hart had been the home of the Magicats; a secretive place, hidden away in the Whispering Woods. “Well, we marched upon it for sure. But it was gone by the time we got there. Vanished into thin air…”

“More lies,” Bramblestar’s eyes burned with anger, glaring down at Grizzlor.

“I was there. We searched for weeks, didn’t find a whisker,” Grizzlor shook his head. “But enough about the past, you must have seen things, even from here. The sky full of stars, ships from other worlds, the planet almost tearing itself apart?”

“I have seen nothing that could not be the result of your mad lord’s attempts to destroy our world, certainly nothing that would convince me to let my guard down,” Bramblestar replied quickly.

Grizzlor sighed. “There’s nothing I can say to convince you is there?”

“Nothing.” Bramblestar bared her teeth. “I’ve heard enough Horde lies to fill nine lifetimes.”

“Well, I guess we’re wasting our time here.” Grizzlor shot Alice a glance and they both shook their bindings off, simultaneously elbowing their guards in the face, knocking them down.

Bramblestar reacted faster than seemed possible for her withered frame, grabbing the staff beside them and sweeping it over the trio, sending out a wave of magic that wrapped around them, pinning their arms tightly to their sides.

“Typical Horde, always ready to resort to violence,” Bramblestar chuckled.

“Take them to the Mountain Shepard.” Bramblestar said to the guards as they picked themselves up. “Maybe their lives can still serve some purpose.”

“Damn housecat,” Grizzlor growled. He tried to struggle against the magical bindings, but he could feel them sapping his strength, making his limbs feel limp and heavy.

“Good talk.” Trako said sarcastically as the guards grabbed them and started pulling them from the room. “I thought Catra was just an asshole but you’re making a good argument for it being genetic.”

The guards herded them back through the village and into the jungle, along a well-worn path. Keeping the trio a few steps ahead of them, their spears leveled at their backs.

“So… This Shepard?” Alice said, her breath short and laboured. She was starting to feel the effects of blood loss, and the heat and draining effects of the magic weren’t helping. “Are they a friendly Shepard? Or are you actually gonna eat us?”

“The Shepard ensures the island is bountiful,” One of the guards said calmly. “Bramblestar gives her life to sustain them, your sacrifice may give her some relief.”

“You should be happy,” One of the other guards hissed angrily. “It’ll probably be the only good thing you do in your life.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” Alice mumbled.

“Not really,” Trako shrugged glibly. “You should have seen what they were doing to Horde soldiers in Salineas before things calmed down. Feeding us to some kind of island god doesn’t seem that bad.”

“Glad to hear you’re feeling so calm about this,” Grizzlor growled. He had been marched to his death before and his mind was racing. Trying to watch the guard’s shadows, see where they were positioned, how far away.

He thought he could take at least one of them out with his teeth. But Alice was fading fast, and Trako wasn’t much in a fist fight, especially with his hands bound.

And even if he could take out all four of them that would still leave them wrapped up in damn magic.

Grizzlor hated magic. Or more accurately he hated how helpless ordinarily people were when magic was wielded against them.

They never got a chance to make a move. The guards were cautious, especially since Grizzlor and Alice had already gotten the drop on them once. They kept them at spears length, staying vigilant until they got to a large clearing at the foot of the mountain in the centre of the island.

The clearing was lined with smouldering torches, running all the way around to a large cave on the side of the mountain.

The guards shoved them forwards, knocking Trako and Alice to their knees before rushing back the way they came.

As they passed the torches they flared to life, the flames spreading out to form a circle, trapping them.

“Well, guess we get to meet their ‘God’ now,” Trako sighed, getting to their feet.

“Any clever ideas?” Grizzlor asked, keeping his eyes on the cave.

“A few,” Trako winced as they bit their cheek. They spat a bit of blood on the magical bonds encircling them, the magic dissipating instantly.

“Whoa, what?” Alice exclaimed, looking at Trako in shock.

“It’s a sanctuary bond, breaks if you shed blood on it,” Trako said, spitting some more blood onto their hand and using it to break Alice’s and Grizzlor’s bindings.

“You know this how?” Grizzlor asked.

Trako shrugged, giving Alice a wink. “I might have _borrowed_ some of Shadow Weaver’s books.”

“It always amazes me that you’ve survived this long.” Grizzlor shook his head. “Any idea how to get through that fire?”

Trako’s smile faltered slightly. “Not as such. We probably just have to beat up whatever weird thing lives in that cave, right? No problem!”

“Yeah!” Alice said excitedly. She got to her feet unsteadily, her cheeks pale. “We got this! I don’t even believe in gods.”

The three of them froze as an echoing _crack_ emanated from the cave. Followed by another, then more in quick succession. Like someone hitting a rock with a sledge hammer.

“You don’t have to believe in something for it to kill you.” Grizzlor said as a massive figure emerged from the cave.

It was a golem made of black, volcanic stone. Smouldering veins of magma ran across its body and pooled at its joints.

Its face was crudely carved into a pained grimace, its eyes glowing like embers as they fixed upon the trio.

“Just, spread out!” Grizzlor shouted, moving in between Alice and the golem. “Keep your distance, maybe we can figure something out.”

“It’s just rocks, right?” Alice asked. “We can break rocks.”

“It’s an Elemental,” Grizzlor growled, moving forwards and trying to attract the golem's attention as Trako started to circle around it. “It’s not ‘just’ anything.”

“If it’s an Elemental, that means there’s a runestone nearby right?” Trako asked.

“Maybe,” Grizzlor replied, keeping his eyes on the golem. It had come to a stop, looking back and forth between the trio as though sizing them up. “Or there’s a shard somewhere, or it’s just gone wild, I don’t know!”

“I’m gonna check the cave.” Trako started running for the cave entrance. “There might be something-”

“No!” Grizzlor yelled. Too late.

As soon as Trako headed towards the cave, the golem started moving, charging at them with surprising speed.

Grizzlor ran after it, but he didn’t know if he could make it before the golem caught up to Trako. Or what he would do if he could.

A blur of red blew past him. Alice, charging with her head down like a mad bull. She slammed into the golems’ leg with a resounding crunch, bouncing off like a billiard ball, but knocking it off balance enough to send it crashing to the ground.

The golem thrashed about slowly, trying to right itself as Grizzlor rushed to Alice’s side.

One of her horns had snapped in half and she appeared to have knocked herself unconscious, but she was still breathing.

Trako was frozen in place, staring at the golem.

“Grizzlor!” Trako shouted, their voice wavering slightly. “It’s got a thing!”

“Just run! Get it away from Alice.” Grizzlor growled, he didn’t have time for Trako to freeze up.

“No, there’s a thing, on its back!” Trako started to back away slowly. “It might be a weak spot!”

The golem heaved itself to its feet. As it turned to face Trako, Grizzlor saw something shining on its back. Something metal, embedded in the stone.

Ancient Magitech weapons systems seldom had convenient ‘off’ switches. That was more the domain of cheesy comic books and children’s theatre plays.

Or, at least, well-designed ones didn't. And if Grizzlor had learned one thing from digging through the First Ones detritus: they were a lot less perfect than the legends implied.

And it wasn’t like they had any better plans. Alice was out for the count and the golem was about ten seconds away from turning Trako into jam.

Grizzlor dashed forwards as the golem started to move, leaping onto its back.

His hands exploded with pain as he grabbed onto the chunk of metal, the smell of burning flesh filling his nose.

He dug in deeper, ignoring the pain. The rock seemed to have grown around the metal, like flesh healing around a wound. But it was brittle; chunks crumbling off as Grizzlor slammed his fists into them, bracing himself with his feet as he got a better grip.

Grizzlor ducked as the golem swung its arm back at him, heaving with all his strength.

He couldn’t feel the pain anymore as he felt it start to give. He couldn’t have let go even if he wanted to, his hands locked in place as he gave one last yank. The surrounding stone gave way with a loud crunch, sending Grizzlor tumbling back onto the ground. The chunk of metal fused to his charred hands.

Grizzlor struggled to breath as he watched the golem thrash around, choking on the smoke coming from his burnt flesh.

The golem threw its head back and let out a reverberating bellow as it was engulfed in flame, the magma running through it burning white hot.

Grizzlor squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of heat blasted over him.

Great, now the thing was even more worked up than before.

The golem’s bellow faded to a low hum and it seemed to settle, slowly sitting down. The blast of flame had burnt all the plant life around it into a layer of charcoal, but after a second fresh buds and shoots began to push up out of the ground, growing at an astonishing speed until the golem was surrounded by a lush garden of flowers.

Grizzlor sat up slowly, regarding the golem cautiously. The heat it was emitting had changed somehow, where before it had been harsh and painful it now felt soft and comforting. Even the golem's crude expression seemed to have changed to a peaceful smile.

“Hey, Dad. You okay?” Trako was at Grizzlor’s side, looking at him with concern and just a hint of a suppressed smile.

“Fine, just check on Alice.” Grizzlor grumbled, blinking rapidly to try and clear his dry eyes.

“Healthy as a bull, Captain!” Alice crouched down next to him, snapping a salute with a massive grin splashed across her face.

“What?” Grizzlor looked at her in confusion. Her cheeks were red and healthy looking and her eyes were clear and sharp. She still looked a little lopsided, with one of her horns snapped in half. But otherwise the picture of health.

He looked down at his hands. They should have been mangled beyond belief, but his skin was smooth and unblemished.

His eyes were drawn to the chunk of metal still in his grasp. It was larger than it appeared, and more complex. Some kind of sleek contraption, made of gold and silver metals and inlaid with what looked like First Ones runes.

Grizzlor didn’t have the slightest idea of what it could be. But Entrapta would probably be interested in it.

He looked up to see Alice and Trako still staring at him, struggling to contain their smirks.

“What are you looking at?” He asked, scowling at them suspiciously.

“Nothing!” Alice grinned. “Just, this is a good look for you.”

Grizzlor reached up to touch his face. Alice and Trako letting out a cackle as he realised that his glorious mane was gone, leaving a short layer of crumbly burnt fur.

“Ungrateful little shits.,” Grizzlor growled, getting up and stomping away from them. “Why don’t you take a look in the mirror yourself!”

Alice reached up to touch her horns, a look of horror spreading across her face. “Oh, come on! It’ll grow back, right?!”

Grizzlor let out a little snort of laughter, the tension draining from his body.

It seemed they weren’t going to die just yet. But as a group of the natives spilled into the clearing, he wondered how long that reprieve was going to last.

They stood there, spears raised, staring at the motionless golem in shock.

Just as it looked like one of them was about to speak, a Magicat holding a long staff came sprinting out of the treeline.

Her fur was dark grey, with streaks of white, but her body looked healthy, lithe and muscular.

“Chief?..” One of the natives asked in confusion as Bramblestar pushed past him.

“What did you do?” She shouted at Grizzlor, holding her staff at the ready.

“You’re looking perky,” Grizzlor replied, holding the artifact up. “Your ‘God’ had a little thorn in its back, I pulled it out for you.”

“I felt pain…” Bramblestar said slowly. “And then my strength was returned to me, I thought you had killed the Shepard.” She walked towards the golem, stretching out her hand. “But they are at peace.”

“You’re welcome!” Grizzlor said glibly, still keeping an eye on the assembled natives, trying to judge their intent.

“Oh, shut up,” Bramblestar snapped, shooting a glare at Grizzlor. “That thing must have been what was draining the Shepard’s energy…’ She let out a heavy sigh. “Well, I guess I can’t kill you now.”

“What is that? Some ancient Magicat code of honour?” Grizzlor raised an eyebrow. He knew he shouldn’t push his luck, but he couldn’t help it. Everyone got along so well on Beast Island, he hadn’t had a good argument in quite a while.

“No.” Bramblestar ground her teeth. “I'm just not an asshole!” She gripped her staff tightly, clearly eager to use it on him. “But I can’t trust you to leave either.”

“Look,” Grizzlor took on a more polite tone. “We just want to get back to Beast Island. I can give you my word that you’ll never see us again.”

“Beast Island?” Bramblestar looked at Grizzlor in confusion. “That place is a death trap, we don’t go within a day’s sail of it.”

“Well, that death trap is home right now, for us and a few more former ‘Horde Scum’.” Grizzlor shrugged.

“What compelled you to settle there?” Bramblestar asked with a dubious look. “Or are you really that stupid?”

“I told you,” Grizzlor flashed her a toothy smile. “We lost the war.”

“So you’ve been banished?” Bramblestar looked positively gleeful.

“Well, the princesses made it sound much nicer, but basically, yes.”

“They do have a way with words. Always making the cruel seem kind.” Bramblestar looked thoughtful for a moment. “And how did you end up here? Trying to escape?”

“Well…” Grizzlor looked away, wishing he could stroke his mane. “It’s complicated.”

“We were trying to go fishing!” Alice piped up happily. “But we got attacked by the fish, and then got lost.”

Bramblestar threw back her head and laughed. “Oh, how the mighty Horde has fallen. If only we knew your weakness was fish, you might have lost even sooner.”

“It was a really big fish,” Alice mumbled as Bramblestar laughed even louder.

“We can set you on your way.” Bramblestar walked over to Grizzlor with a smug look on her face. “And if you’re really starving, give us a visit before you embarrass yourself next time. We might have some scraps to spare.”

“Not scared we’re going to invade your little paradise?” Grizzlor grinned down at Bramblestar.

She reached up and tapped his chin lightly with her staff. “Let’s just say you’re a lot less intimidating now that you’ve been shorn.”

Grizzlor took a quick step back, the little fur he had left bristling angrily. “I’d much rather starve than accept charity from a smug little housecat.”

“I’ll take some free food,” Trako interjected.

“Are you sure?” Bramblestar chuckled, ignoring Trako. “I can make sure the meat is raw and full of parasites, just how you barbarians like it.”

Alice sighed as Grizzlor and Bramblestar continued to exchange barbs. Hopefully he wouldn’t wear the Magicat’s good-will down so much that they couldn’t get home. Or get some food. Now that the pain was gone, Alice was starving.

The other island natives seemed just as awkward as Alice and Trako, unsure if they should intervene as the two Beastmen hurled increasingly venomous insults at each other.

Just as it seemed like they were about to exchange blows, they both let out a laugh and casually began to head back to the village, leaving the others looking on in stunned confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a long time since the last update. Been a whole lot of life going on here.
> 
> But I'm still working on it, and I hope y'all are still enjoying it :)


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